A missionary to Bangladesh who understood well what it means to wait on the Spirit to prepare the way used to pray this wise prayer, “Lord, let me walk only where You have worked.”
I have no doubt that Paul must have said much the same thing many times during his journeys for the Lord. Before he walked in Ephesus, he prayed for God to work there. Surely Priscilla and Aquila did too. As a result, we see that when Paul returned, he found some disciples in that once spiritually barren city.
Granted, there weren’t many—only 12. And they hadn’t been baptized in water or the Holy Spirit yet. But even so, Paul perceived that an effectual door had at last been opened. He realized that God had gone before him and prepared the way so he jumped in with both feet.
He didn’t despise that small beginning. He didn’t say, “Well, I’m looking for a bigger opportunity than this.” He preached to that little 12-member church. He laid hands on them and “the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied” (verse 6).
Not long afterward, Paul got the opportunity to preach every day for two entire years in the school of Tyrannus. He preached to so many people there that everybody living in Asia, Jew and Greek, heard the Word of the Lord.
That alone is enough to qualify the door in Ephesus as an effectual one. But God wasn’t finished working yet!
He kept on increasing the manifestations of His power. He worked “unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them” (verses 11 – 12). Over time, the Word and power of God so flooded Ephesus that the reverence of the Lord fell on all the people there:
… and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. (verses 17 – 20)
Wouldn’t it be glorious if we could experience in every area of our lives the kind of victory and increase that Paul saw in Ephesus?
I believe we can. I believe God yearns for us to increase until His Word grows mightily and prevails in our hearts, in our families and our finances, in our churches and communities and countries. His will for us is increase and we can have it if we will pray, “Lord, let me walk only where You have worked!”
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:19 – 22
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”