Does Prayer Work?

Last week, during our discussion on “Does Prayer work?”, one of us remembered this poem:

"I asked the Lord for a bunch of fresh flowers
but instead he gave me an ugly cactus
with many thorns.

I asked the Lord for some beautiful butterflies
but instead he gave me many ugly
and dreadful worms.

I was threatened,
I was disappointed.
I mourned.

But after many days,
suddenly,

I saw the cactus bloom
with many beautiful flowers.

And those worms
became beautiful butterflies
flying in the Spring wind.

God's way is the best way."

This poem was part of an address given to the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in Seoul in 1989 by Dr Chun-Ming Kao, a delegate from Taiwan.

Dr Kao was a prisoner of conscience in a Taiwanese prison for four years, three months and twenty-one days. His crime was to help a human rights leader who was wanted by the police.

He told the conference:
“Many of you sustained me and my family with your love and constant prayers.
Many people asked me whether I felt that the 4-year imprisonment was a great loss. My answer has been that the 4-year imprisonment was a great blessing. I deeply felt that the Lord changed my grief to a great joy.
Usually when people were arrested and imprisoned as political prisoners in Taiwan, they became very lonely, because they would lose many friends; even their parents, wives, brothers and sisters would not dare to visit them.
But the Lord gave me many friends when I felt lonely and depressed in prison. I received many letters from Taiwan, Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands. The churches in the UK, USA, Canada, Germany, Australia. Japan, Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere, sent their representatives to visit me in prison or my family at home. WARC also informed many churches throughout the world of my case, and asked many people to pray for me and my family. Even Pope John Paul II sent his representative to visit me in prison. I was greatly comforted by you, your church, and many Christians throughout the world.

The Lord sent me as a missionary to the prisoners. No pastor was permitted to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the prison. But the Lord sent me there as a prisoner. I was able to live with other prisoners from different backgrounds. There were businessmen, soldiers, government officers, fishermen, engineers, gangster bosses and young people who had committed robbery, murder and other crimes. It was a great opportunity for me to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to my fellow prisoners. The more I preached the gospel, the more I felt it was impossible for me to convert anyone. But in spite of our human weakness, the Lord changed many of them to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The full text of Dr Kao’s speech can be found here.