Story Behind The Photo: Hannah

This photo captures a moment I saw a DTS student step out in a new level of boldness. As their outreach leader, I saw this student grow in their faith, push beyond their comfort zone, and pray with authority, in a way I had never seen them step out before. One of the many “pay days” we get as missionaries is when we see those we are leading step into new and greater trust in God!

There are many ways to meet people’s practical needs, especially on outreach. You can meet needs by bringing food to widows, blankets for newborns, or building houses for families in crisis. You can meet people’s spiritual needs by sharing the gospel with a tribal village or handing out Bibles in their own languages. Another way to meet someone’s needs is through prayer, through laying hands on people and speaking God’s promises over their lives, praying over children, and asking God’s blessings for their futures. 

Outreach is not just about serving people groups in foreign countries in a practical way. It’s also about partnering with God and establishing His kingdom in these places through prayer. Prayer is a huge part of the sharing gospel, whether you’re leading a new believer in a prayer of salvation, whether you’re praying for healing for a crippled hand, whether you’re praying for a restored marriage, or whether you’re praying over a family for the Lord’s provision. 

It’s in moments like these that we get to share God’s love and compassion with both believers and non-believers, widows, children, addicts, and whole families. We get to share with single mothers that they haven’t been abandoned by God. We get to encourage alcoholic fathers that there is a much better source of hope and fulfillment. We get to tell children who’ve lost their parents that God is there to lovingly father them.  

Prayer causes change. It’s not just a gesture of kindness. It’s not just a hopeful request to God on behalf of a family’s needs. Prayer truly changes lives and brings restoration. It’s because of faith-filled prayers that an impoverished family now has a real home instead of a crowded mud hut and that their children now have beds to sleep in instead of being huddled together on the ground. Prayer brought this family from desperate to being blessed, from being seen as poor to being a testimony of God’s goodness and provision to their whole village. 

Through prayer, we get to be a part of the incredible things God is accomplishing on this earth, both locally and abroad. We get to see lives transformed, families restored, and hearts redeemed. Prayer is one of the best ways to meet someone’s needs, and a YWAM DTS outreach is an amazing way to put this into practice and see God's work.