Gail Waller – Prayer Warrior (my testimony) – Thursday eve mtg, 2023

We heard in testimony about being a prayer warrior and it brought to mind someone I know and love dearly, who is a prayer warrior. This lady heard about a prodigal and it touched her, so she started praying for the prodigal and she prayed unceasingly. The prodigal didn’t know about those prayers because she was out in the world doing her own thing, but someone was praying for her. Five years went by and there was still somebody praying for her, but she didn’t know it. Ten years went by. The prodigal was still outside the fold, but this prayer warrior was still praying. Fifteen years went by, seventeen years went by and this lady was still praying. Then word came through that the prodigal had returned, and she said to me at the meeting at my parents’ place, “Gail, I have prayed for you every day by name.” I worked out that this lady had prayed for me for 6205 days. She started praying when she was in her 60s and finished that prayer in her early 80s. She prayed for me by name. She was a prayer warrior. Matthew 21:22 – “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” This prayer warrior also said, “My prayers have been answered.” She prayed for 6205 days, believing that I would come back. It is a long time. When she told me that her prayers had been answered in her early 80s, I don’t know if she could pray on her knees, but I do know the absolute thankfulness she had when I came back. I will touch on a few points that had happened. I had been a worker, but my health had gone, so I couldn’t continue doing what I loved doing. I would break down in every mission, so I stopped going. When I couldn’t do what I had been called to do and loved to do, I lived the life of one who had nothing more to lose, because I had lost it all. I became one with the world. There is a certain type of peace when you are one with the world because you don’t have the flesh and the devil and the world all in conflict with the Spirit, but do you know what happens? Through the process of time, and it doesn’t take long, you lose the Holy Spirit. When that happens, an emptiness and darkness comes into your life. You try and fill that emptiness up with everything you can, but it doesn’t fill it up. I went out a lot and I dated a lot, but it didn’t work. I wanted to commit myself to something and when a man asked the question, “Will you marry me?” I said, “Yes.” Then I thought, “There’s something not quite right here,” and I changed my mind. The third time this happened, I thought there was something wrong with me, because I could not commit. I wasn’t praying for myself because I had already lost everything. I didn’t know it, but this woman was praying for me, and my decisions were being affected because of her prayers. After the third time of saying, “No,” I decided to just get dogs because it was easier. Time passed, and I felt God was drawing near. In 2019, I was sitting in Booyong Convention and God spoke to me: “Tonight, the meeting will be tested – but it’s not for you.” Then the pandemic hit, one of the best things that ever happened to me. The meetings got smaller and I could have a one-on-one talk with the brothers. I let them know what was in my heart, that I had felt God drawing near and I had joy and peace, because that comes from God. I made my choice, and I knew that when I made my choice it was also a call to labour in the harvest field. I talked to one of the brothers, who said to me, “Is there anything you can’t undo?” My list was really big, so I said, “Can you clarify that?” He said, “Have you married?” I answered, “No. Is that it? With everything I have done, that’s it?” So, I offered my life for the harvest field. In 2020 I made my choice and in 2022 I was back in the harvest field. Don’t stop praying, because your prayers for someone who is outside the fold may be the only thing that brings them back. If you stop praying for someone you love and know, who else will pray for them? God listens to your prayers and they move the heart of God. You don’t know what the end result of those prayers will be. Whenever I see this lady, I give her a really big hug because she helped to bring me back. Your prayer may be the only prayer of intercession for a prodigal. If you keep their name before the God of heaven, you can affect His Kingdom. There were some, I’m sure, who were discouraged by the amount of time I had been outside the fold and perhaps they thought, “It’s not working.” Maybe they stopped praying for a day, or two days, but the day you stop praying for a prodigal by name may be the one day they need your prayer the most. Don’t give up. I’m sure we all know someone outside the fold, and God knows them. When you intercede for those who cannot intercede for themselves, it touches the heart of God. In the hymn we sang, “From every stain made clean,” and I am truly grateful that through the blood of Christ I stand on a cleansed, forgiven past and I stand on a very hopeful future. May God help us as we go forward to be very consistent in our prayer life. Be steadfast, don’t let go, commit yourself to it. You have everything in front of you, because what we put into our service determines our salvation. Be strong, for Jesus’ sake.