Prayer Causes Things

Prayer causes things to happen!!!! Take a look at this video. Do you really believe that? Have you seen this to be true in your life? As I and people around me have been making prayer a priority in our lives we have seen God continually answer prayers. Let me share a few of those stories with you.

At First Glance we are definitely doing some growing. We are in the process of moving our skate park to a different location to free up room at Rec Nights as well as giving the skate ministry  more room to grow and have a greater impact on the community. This is a fairly expensive project and we were not quite sure where the funds were going to be coming from. This is especially true in light of the fact that First Glance is a little short on funds at the moment. So we added it to the list of things to bring before God, trusting that he would provide. A few weeks ago someone came to drop off furniture and it just so happened to be the day we got the keys to the new building for the skate park. Our director was really excited about it so she decided to show them around and share the vision for the new park. As the guy who dropped off the furniture saw what we wanted to do and what God could do through it, he decided God was calling him to take part. He decided we needed to provide the kids with the best skate park possible, and in order to make that happen he decided to fund the entire project! God definitely answered this prayer in a big time way that only he could have orchestrated.

There are so many stories of answered prayer at First Glance but I want to share one outside of first Glance that truly speaks of the power of Prayer. Some friends of many of ours at First Glance were going to have a baby. However the baby was diagnosed with skeletal dysplasia while in utero. The doctors said that most likely the baby would be born a stillborn. So a community of believers joined around them in prayer throughout their pregnancy. The day she went in to be induced a group of believers stayed in the waiting room and prayed through the day and night. It was such a picture of what the body of Christ is supposed to be like. Early the next morning the baby was born and they were all uplifted in prayer through that night. Baby Eliana was born but she was still not out of the woods. The Doctors were concerned about her lungs, and if she would be able to keep breathing. So people continued to fervently plead with God for her healing. And guess what? God heard and answered!!! Later that day she was given a completely clean bill of health. The doctors said she was perfect. There was no skeletal dysplasia. The doctors had no explanation for it. I love the next part. The parents picked out the name Eliana without knowing what it meant. Eliana is Hebrew for “My God has answered me”.

I hope you are challenged as I have been to more fully rely on God as he really is in control, and he does hear us. I can’t tell you why some prayers are not answered as we want, but I do know God is in control, and he works through all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). If you want to really see how God can answer prayer, read the biography of George Mueller. It is one of the more challenging books i have read. I also invite you to continue praying for continued support raising for me as I trust God more fully for this. I have faith that God will provide as I need it. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

Love as a brother in Christ,

Benjamin Rahe

Jehovah Jireh

We come to better know God through our experiences with him. We are a very experientially based people. Often we won’t believe that something is true until we have proof of it through our own experience. God knows this and all throughout the Bible you see him revealing himself to people through experiences. Then many of the people in the Old Testament would make an alter and name the place by how they came to know God. This past week I have come to a place in my life I will call Jehovah Jireh or “The LORD will provide”.

The past month and a half has been a transitional time in my life. It has definitely been a struggle to adjust from working 24 on 48 off at the fire department to working normal office hours as well as night programming at First Glance. To top that off I am still working one day a week at the fire department, and this month I am taking an open water scuba class through the fire department for the county water rescue team I am on. I have really enjoyed working at the fire department and have struggled with the fact that God has called me to step away from it and take a reduced role as I enter into full time ministry. On my own without God’s leading I probably would not have made that decision. However, i rejoice as James 1:2-4 is played out in my life:

“2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

I rejoice as I persevere through office work and planning, things I do not really enjoy and am not incredibly gifted at, knowing that it will cause me to grow. I was however, over the last few weeks feeling very discouraged and down. That is were God showed himself to me as Jehovah Jireh. I have been looking for houses in Kenmore so I can move into the same area as the people I minister to. It has been frustrating as I many opportunities have come about and have fallen through. It seems the harder I tried to find a place the more things would fall through. I finally came to the point where I was ready to give up trying on my own and surrender it to God, trusting he would provide. I needed to be out of my current place by October 1st, and even though I didn’t want to move back in with my parents I decided that if that is where God wanted me , I would go there for the time being, unless he provided another way. I was fully content with whatever happened. It often seems like that that is the very moment God moves, the moment when we completely surrender to him. So here I was, September 27th fully planning moving back in with my parents. I was approached that day at First Glance by one of my coworkers who told me her and her husband had a place on their property that they wanted to rent to me. So that day I went and checked it out and it was perfect. It’s like God knows me or something, and wanted to fill all my desires. I felt deeply loved that he would provide like that.

But God was not done yet. I had already come to know him in a new way and was driven to praise him but he wanted to continue to bless me. I am still in the process of raising support and it is definitely hard to go from having a steady income to looking to God to provide. I am a little over halfway to my goal of raising a monthly support of $1000 a month, which is the about the minimum i need to live off of. In the mean time I am using one-time support gifts to get me through. So this is where I got to see God provide in ways that only he could get the glory through. One of my monthly supporters and their family is helping to plant a new church. While they are in the process of planting this new church, the church is not taking offering to start with. They have graciously decided through God’s leading to give me all of their tithe that would be going toward the church to support me while they are in this period. It is such a huge blessing for me, one that can only cause me to praise God for providing. I have really come to learn that when you step out in faith and take risks to follow God in an area that is beyond yourself, you get to see God provide. I think that is often why we don’t see God move, because we don’t take God sized risks that unless he comes through, we will fail. I am continually being challenged to step out in faith for God in this season of my life, and I challenge you to do the same as well. God knows you and your heart much better then you do, and he is faithful to provide. Take risks where he calls you to and step out in faith to follow him, and you will come to know your father in new ways as well.

Thank you for continuing to support me in prayer and in other ways. I really appreciate your love and anything you have provided for me.

Love as a brother in Christ,

Benjamin Rahe