Editor Note: Malachi Dads volunteer James shares how a recent Kingdom Man lesson challenged his prayer life and reminded him of God’s incredible power. Let’s hear what he has to say …
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Are you a prayer warrior?
Have you ever reached out to heaven and made an impact here on earth?
If you were meeting someone for the first time and they asked you these questions as an icebreaker, would you feel awkward? How would you answer them?
Yet these are the very questions we considered this week in our Kingdom Man study.
It is hard to believe we are approaching the final weeks of this year’s Malachi Dads program, and I want to share the impact this week’s lesson had on me.
I first read Kingdom Man last year when I joined the Malachi Dads ministry. The program impacted my own life as I prepared for and led the weekly sessions with the men at my table.
Each lesson built upon the one before it, and I could feel God scraping away layers of old paint, preparing me to become more than I had been. Those were layers Satan had painted on me to keep me from becoming a stronger prayer warrior—from reaching out to heaven and making an impact on my family.
The Power of Prayer
In this week’s lesson, Tony Evans reminds us that “what Adam lost in the garden, Christ regained at the cross.”
Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth. We know Satan has been defeated and death has no sting. Yet Satan still uses lies, intimidation, persuasion, stealing, and destruction to keep us from living in the fullness of God’s love.
Tony challenges us—and challenged me—to use one of the most underutilized tools available to us: PRAYER.
As I prepared for this lesson, rereading Chapter 10 for the second time, God touched my heart and asked:
James, why are you not a prayer warrior?
You can’t lie to God.
I am guilty of not always using prayer as God asks me to. I often offer a quick prayer for health and safety when I pass an accident, and I know God hears those prayers.
But the Holy Spirit reminded me that my intentional prayer life needs to be more than it is today if I want to reach out to heaven and see God’s purposes unfold through prayer.
Another layer of Satan’s old paint was being scraped away.
Learning from Elijah
Tony uses Elijah’s prayers for the return of rain in 1 Kings 18 to show us what it means to truly reach out to heaven.
We must align ourselves with God, seek His will, and pray with focus, intention, and reverence—asking for specific answers to specific prayers that bring glory and honor to Him.
Six times Elijah sent his servant to the sea to look for a sign of the promised rain. Six times the servant returned with nothing to report. But Elijah continued in fervent prayer, calling on the Lord to demonstrate His power.
On the seventh trip, the servant reported seeing a cloud “as small as a man’s hand.” That small cloud grew into the drought-ending rain that brought glory to God.
God Was Preparing Me for Something Greater
The layers God scraped away from me this week were rooted in the same lessons I learned last year, but this year they carry even deeper meaning.
God has called me to stand in the gap. I was created to bring Him glory. I have a responsibility to lead my family. My pedigree and past mistakes do not define me. And God will equip me if I am willing to answer His call.
The final scrape was a reminder that YES, I have reached out to heaven and witnessed God’s glory unfold through fervent, focused, intentional, and reverent prayer.
My testimony is how God, through Malachi Dads, prepared me to be part of an extraordinary 40-plus-hour experience involving my forever newborn granddaughter.
I witnessed God answering prayers in real time, moving chess pieces I did not even know were on the board. And in the end, He gave my daughter and son-in-law the opportunity to hold a piece of heaven in their arms for five glorious hours.
God Is Changing Lives Through Malachi Dads
I have witnessed God changing lives through Malachi Dads again this year, including seeing one of the men at my table reconnect with his family after more than a decade of silence.
My challenge to you is to join me in fervent, focused, intentional, and reverent prayer for our Malachi Dads program.
Join me in praying that more men in white will accept and live out the life-changing gift of a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Together, we can reach out to heaven and make an impact here on earth, bringing Jesus’ life-changing gift to generations yet to come.
Amen.