JONI
Cultivating God’s accent
by Joni Eareckson Tada
The large window in the Baltimore-Washington Airport framed a cloudy, grey afternoon.
Our flight was late and the seats in the waiting area of gate D-7 were full.
Judy and Jean stood beside me to pray – something we often do before and
after flights. Jean knew I needed a prayer lift. I was pretty down over a number
of things, including the news that we lacked the funds to launch an outreach
to help disabled children in an eastern European orphanage.
Jean read the sadness in my eyes, reached for our hands and said: “Lord,
send forth the corn and the wine and the oil. Send forth the early rains ...
the late rains ... and produce a wonderful crop of blessings ...” Her voice
was laced with confidence. I recognized in her prayer the strains of Joel 2:19: “The
Lord will reply to them: 'I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to
satisfy you fully ...’”
Just as Jean was repeating the part about corn, oil and wine, I felt the presence
of two people edge between Judy and me. They crowded close and punctuated Jean’s
prayer with quiet “Amens”.
When we finished, the gate agent called our flight. We hardly had time to exchange
names with the man and woman. In the rush to catch their own plane, the gentleman
folded a $100 bill into Jean’s hand. The couple hurried down the corridor.
Jean waved the bill in the air like a flag of victory, saying: “Yea, even
while I was speaking in prayer, the angel came with the answer!”
When Jean prays, things happen. “Joni,” she instructed as she tucked
the bill in my coat pocket, “This is the first fruits of what God will supply!” I’ve
learned, through years of interceding with her, that Jean’s prayers not
only seem to have power with God, they do. She has learned to pray in the language
of the Father. Jean even answers using God’s words: Her “yea even while
I was speaking in prayer” was a direct quote from Daniel 9:21.
I have learned to follow Jean’s lead and salt-and-pepper my prayers with
the Word of God. It’s a way of using God’s language when we talk to
him. It’s speaking his dialect, using his vernacular, employing his idioms.
(I’ve often teased Jean that I hear God’s accent when she prays).
If praying “in the name of Jesus” comes as naturally as breathing,
we need to pray “in the Word” just as naturally. The Bible underscores
that there are two things that God honours above all else: his name and his Word. “I
will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever ...
for you have exalted above all things your name and your word” (Psalm 145:1;
Psalm 138:2). Prayer which is spiced with his Word is prayer exalted.
It’s not a matter of simply divine vocabulary. It’s a matter of power.
When we bring God’s Word into our praying, we are bringing God’s power
directly into our intercessions. Hebrews 4:12 advises that: “For the word
of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword ...” God’s
Word gives our prayers life, infusing vitality not only into our praises and
petitions, but into the thoughts which frame those petitions.
God’s Word is also active, syringing energy and power into our praises.
Listen to this promise God gave Jeremiah: "‘Is not my word like fire’ declares
the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” (Jeremiah
23:29). If God’s Word has “living power in you who have faith” (I
Thessalonians 2:13), giving muscle and might to our walk, then how much more
does God’s Word bring living power to our prayers?!
Jean will be coming out to see me and my husband Ken this spring, and I’m
looking forward to her stay with us. I have a feeling we’ll be tossing around
a lot of “corn, oil and wine” in the kitchen. Plus, I’m looking
forward to lots of times of prayer with her – after all, she’s got
a divine accent!
You can read more about Joni's ministry at www.throughtheroof.org or www.jafministries.org
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