I first read Touch the World Through Prayer the summer I served with Kingdom Building Ministries in Colorado. I pulled it out last week to be reminded of this jewel on prayer written by a missionary to India.
The author opened my eyes up to the power of prayer at first read and reinvigorated it again. He allowed me to treasure the discipline of prayer and the ability to be at anyone’s side through prayer.
The only thing in this book that could use a little clarification is some points in which the author will say that God “needs” us to pray at certain times. I don’t believe that God is in need of anything. But I do believe that he listens to and uses our prayers in unbelievable ways.
The read is fantastic. Eye-opening. Here are some the best quotes:
- “Thank God for James, the half-brother of Jesus, who spent the latter years of his life praying for the churches God was raising up. When he died and his body was prepared for burial, it was found that his knees were so calloused from hours and hours of kneeling that they almost resembled the knees of a camel. He became known as ‘Camel-knees'” (12).
- “We are called to stop Satan, to drive back Satan, to defeat Satan through prayer and fasting. But we are too prayerless, too passive, too content with spiritual mediocrity and comparative spiritual barrenness” (25).
- “Hundreds of mountains are impeding the advance of missions and Christ’s church today because we are relying almost completely on our own wisdom, skill, and effort” (29).
- “You learn to pray by praying” (79).
- “We are upset by blatant sins, but fail to be disturbed by Christians who have never won a soul to Christ, by Christians whose prayer is mostly self-centered and who seldom weep for the world. Earth’s largest and whitest harvest since Pentecost is here, and we live a life of ‘business as usual;’ we tend to only play church and to treat missions as a mere hobby instead of as the major task of the church” (90).
- “It is a very deliberate exercise of Christ’s own authority and name in a situation where His glory is at stake, where His kingdom is being hindered, or where Christ calls you to demonstrate His power to love He is the living God” (114).
- “The history of revival points to two special roles for God’s children: prayer and obedience” (174).
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.