A giant tree stood on the banks of the Awash River in an arid valley about two hours' drive from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It had been there for generations and seemed eternal. Unable to bring the water in the river to the higher level of the land, the people who lived in the surrounding area suffered through famines over the years. In their suffering the people looked to the tree for help. They worshiped the towering giant, believing a spirit had given it divine powers. Adults would kiss its great trunk as they passed by. They spoke of the tree in hushed, reverential tones and the children said, "This tree saved us." When World Vision began a development project in 1989, including an irrigation system to make the valley's parched earth bloom for the first time, the great tree stood like a forbidding sentinel of an old order. It presided over the community of people, enslaving them through fear. The people were convinced that the spirits must be appeased by sacrificing animals and observing taboos. The World Vision workers saw how the villagers worshiped the tree and recognized that this idol was a barrier to the community entering into Christ's kingdom and being transformed. One morning, as the World Vision staff prayed, one of Jesus' promises struck them as particularly relevant: "If you have faith, you can say to this tree, 'Be taken up and removed' and it will obey you" (Matthew 21:21). They began to pray that God would bring down the menacing Goliath. Soon the whole community knew that the Christians were praying about the tree. Six months later, the tree began to dry up. Its leaves disappeared, and finally it collapsed like a stricken giant into the river. The people were astonished. "Your God has done this!" they said. "Your God has dried up the tree!" Within a few weeks, about a hundred villagers received Christ because they had seen His power displayed in the spectacular answer to the Christians' prayers. Christians have been divided for years over the most effective means of transforming our world. Is it through verbal witness or social action? In truth, the two cannot be separated. Without both, there simply is no good news. One thing ties them together - prayer. When we pray for God to save souls and also bring his justice to bear on issues of the day, evangelism and social action are linked in the most essential way. The God who inspires prayer for the world stirs the hearts of His people both to share His good news and to demonstrate love and mercy. Wherever we see people coming to Christ, health improving, economic opportunity increasing and kingdom values growing, we find that believers have been praying. Because of the nature of evil in the world, prayer is essential.
John D. Robb “Strategic Prayer”