One of probably the most surprising reflections on my 20-year mission to construct a national monument to God’s answered prayers is that probably the most difficult challenge has not been raising the thousands and thousands of kilos needed to construct it.
While fundraising in these tricky times shouldn’t be easy, God has proved his faithfulness and hundreds of individuals globally have backed the vision. The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer will include one million bricks, each scannable on a sensible phone to disclose testimony of God’s goodness. Fundraising is rarely easy – especially when it’s thousands and thousands of kilos – but we hope to make a really big announcement in 2025 that can move this project to the subsequent stage.
You may be shocked to read, nevertheless, that raising and believing for funds hasn’t been our only challenge. An obstacle we’re still attempting to battle has been the actual gathering of the answered prayers. We have just over 40,000 submissions thus far – cancerous tumours have vanished, marriages have been restored and barren women have given birth (and that is just a couple of) – but it surely’s been surprisingly difficult to get Christians to send of their reports.
So why – when presented with such an incredible opportunity to document God’s power to the world – are Christians shying away from sending of their stories?
Culture clash
Firstly, some have elevated culture over scripture. I remember once at a public consultation sharing in regards to the project and a Christian got here as much as me and said, “I do know that God answers prayer, but why do you will have to brag about it?” I just politely smiled … I suppose that is the British way, is not it?
We have in our cultural psyche a reluctance to share our religious experiences because for a lot of us, what takes place in our spiritual life is a really private matter, not one to be discussed in public. Yet that is counter spiritual. There are over 200 scriptures that encourage us to recollect what God has done and to share those experiences.
The Bible may be very clear. Deuteronomy 4:9 talks in regards to the importance of not only remembering what God has done but ensuring that we do not let it fade from our own heart and pass it down the generations. Psalm 145:3-6 talks in regards to the importance of commending the works of Jesus to a different; telling them; meditating on them and proclaiming them.
Woke worries
Some have elevated politics over scripture. We live in a world where there’s an aversion to offend, and since the ability of offence lies within the offended, many attempt to plot a dubious course of avoiding this subjective harm. When that is applied to sharing stories of answered prayer, we frequently see the church ‘on mute’. The conversation often goes like this: “I’ve been healed of cancer but I don’t desire to inform anybody because I don’t desire anyone who’s affected by cancer to be offended or upset that they’ve not been healed and I actually have.”
It is God who heals, and scripture again may be very clear on this issue. The Bible talks about how when one a part of the body is impacted, we’re all impacted! Therefore when one person is healed, or God has provided finance for a loved one, we should always rejoice with them!
An enormous a part of the Christian life is experiencing suffering and drawing ever closer to God in that have, but I actually have encountered many places where the emphasis is on the latter, and the previous is unfortunately forgotten.
Modern times
The third issue is my belief people elevate ease over difficulty. We live in times when people just like the immediate, and for this reason gathering financial donations has been easier than stories of answered prayer.
It is simple to present a donation; easy to tug up your phone and in seconds arrange a monthly donation. We are grateful for the 18,000 individuals who have done just that, and we want more to do the identical, yet sharing our testimony of answered prayer takes time. It takes effort to sit down down and think in regards to the stories after which to share them, and we live in a world that is stuffed with demands and distractions.
In twenty years of pursuing this I have never encountered one person not utterly thrilled and encouraged of their faith after dedicating time to sit down and remember what God has done of their life and recording it. By going through the method, many remember stories they’d forgotten.
The fantastic thing about the Eternal Wall is that one million people will submit their stories in order that long after they’ve left this earth, generations to return will have the ability to read them and find the Jesus who answers.
So why not give it a go today and be a part of the world’s biggest database of miracle stories? You can share an answered prayer and learn more in regards to the Eternal Wall at www.eternalwall.org.uk.
Richard Gamble is the visionary and founding father of the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer, an enormous monument which can open in Coleshill near Birmingham.
