World Vision, a Christian charity, gives this wonderful testimony on the power of prayer.
The charity working in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, were trying to lay a pipeline for the purpose of land irrigation, so that crops could be grown and watered on what was a baron piece of land. The work came to a halt with a rather unusual problem – there was a tree in the way. The problem was that this was no ordinary tree, because the local people worshiped it! Yes, the spirituality of some of the local people meant that this tree, centuries old, was very important and people would kiss this tree as they passed it by and also leave sacrifices there. They believed that the tree would not want food grown on this piece of land and so would not give their help in any way to the laying of the pipeline.
One morning a member of World Vision’s staff remembered Jesus’ words about how faith could move even a mountain. And so the Christian prayer group got to work; they prayed that God would remove this tree and reveal to these superstitious people the truth of His love and power. The prayer group prayed for this intention each day and soon the local people got to hear about this – that these Christians were praying to remove their sacred tree.
What do you think happened? Yes, you guessed it! This tree that had stood for centuries in perfect health, began to drop its leaves, then it went dry and eventually after six months of prayer the tree died and fell to the ground. The local people said “Your God did this” and many converted to the Christian faith. Two hundred of the local people were baptised into the Christian faith, the pipeline was laid, and the crops grown.
Through the simple prayers of this little group of Christians, the laws of nature were changed, a baron land was propagated, a superstition was overthrown and the hearts and lives of many people were changed for the better. ALL GLORY AND HONOUR AND PRAISE BE YOURS SWEET JESUS!