Stand in Prayer: Learning to Pray with Purpose, Power, and Intentional Strategy with Liz Holtzman

Forty years in prayer ministry will teach you a few things. But what Liz Holtzman has learned goes far beyond what to say — she's learned WHY it works, and that knowledge changes everything.

Liz is a retired special education teacher, intercessor, Bible study author, and longtime leader in Moms in Prayer International. Her new Bible study, Stand in Prayer: Purposeful Prayer with Powerful Outcomes, grew out of decades of teaching sixth graders, mentoring women, and showing up to pray when she didn't always have the words.

In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on the prayer model she's used and taught for years — walking us through the power of praise, confession, thanksgiving, and requests, and why the sequence matters more than we realize. She also shares how to mine Scripture for prayers that align with God's will, a stunning answered-prayer story from the villages of Cameroon, and what she discovered about intercession in the aftermath of her husband's sudden death.

If you've ever felt like your prayer life was flat, scattered, or powerless — this episode is for you. Pull up a chair. This one goes deep.

📖 Liz's books:

Stand in Prayer: Purposeful Prayer with Powerful Outcomes (Bible Study)

Proven: Praying for Your Children (Scripture Prayers for 31 Character Traits)

Romans 8:26 (NIV)

❝  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  ❞

James 1:5 (NIV)

❝  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  ❞

Psalm 100:4 ❝  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  ❞

00:00  —  Introduction & Welcome

01:45  —  Meet Liz Holtzman: Educator, Author, and 40-Year Intercessor

03:30  —  The Sunday Night Dinner That Started Everything

06:00  —  From 6th Grade Prayer Committee to Bible Study Author

08:15  —  Defining Prayer: Why It's Harder Than It Sounds

11:00  —  Prayer as Relationship: The Communication Framework

13:30  —  The Four-Part Prayer Model: Praise, Confession, Thanksgiving, Requests

16:00  —  Why Praise Comes First — And What It Actually Does

19:30  —  Praise Silences the Enemy: Psalm 8:2 Explained

22:00  —  Confession Without Condemnation: The Role of the Holy Spirit

24:30  —  Thanksgiving Builds Faith — And Fights Doubt

27:00  —  Praying with Pure Motives: How the Model Helps You Self-Check

30:00  —  Using Scripture to Pray: Practical Tools and Strategies

33:30  —  Live Prayer Example: Praying for Emma (Brain Tumor Diagnosis)

38:00  —  James 1:5 in Action: Praying for Wisdom over Medical Teams

41:30  —  Proven: Scripture Prayers for Your Children's Character

45:00  —  Sample Prayer for Courage (1 Chronicles 28:20 + Ephesians 2:10)

48:30  —  Using a Concordance and Online Bible for Prayer Research

51:00  —  Context Matters: How to Use Scripture Without Cherry-Picking

54:30  —  The Power and Purpose of Praise Revisited

57:00  —  When My Husband Died: Groans Too Deep for Words (Romans 8:26)

01:01:00  —  Praying in Agreement with the Holy Spirit

01:04:00  —  The Cameroon Story: 31 Villages, One Old Man

01:09:30  —  The Maka People: A 30-Year Thread God Was Weaving

01:14:00  —  Solar Bibles and God's Continuing Story

01:17:30  —  When God Doesn't Answer the Way We Hoped

01:20:00  —  The Presence of God Through the Hard Things

01:22:30  —  All Kinds of Prayers Count: From Groans to Liturgy

01:24:30  —  Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Liz's Books

https://uppbeat.io/t/ian-aisling/lake-marie-i 

License code: SD5UK9UFKT8P5DRH

Welcome to Just Talkin' About Jesus.

I'm Jan Johnson, a seasoned believer who loves relationships and, you know, just talkin' about Jesus.

Here you will find testimonies of those who God has changed through his grace.

Stories of feeling unworthy because of being sex trafficked, or of radical redemption of a woman who grew up with abuse, neglect, abandonment and drugs. A story of an abortion survivor. This and more. Lean in now.

Sometimes it's just better to read the podcast content. 

You might not have your ear buds, or it's not a good time to listen, but you can grab

a few minutes to read the gist of the episode.

Not only is a lot of the podcast content in the newsletter, there are also photos and links to the guests information.

There's also content and photos of me and what going on in my life.

https://janjohnsonauthor.substack.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@JustTalkinAboutJesus

https://jan-johnson.com/

https://justtalkingaboutjesus.com/

https://janjohnsonauthor.substack.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@JustTalkinAboutJesus

Thanks for listening!

If you have a story to tell, check out the form on my website- justtalkingaboutjesus.com.

I'd love to connect with you!

No, really.... hit me up!

Transcript

[00:01] Jan: Welcome, everyone.

[00:02] So glad that you are here. My guest today is Liz Holtzman.

[00:06] She is an educator, an author, retired special ed teacher,

[00:12] an intercessor. She's on the board of Northwest Christian writers. She spent 30 years doing moms with prayer group and 40 years in intercession and prayer. And I mean, this is our galaxy.

[00:29] If this is our topic, which it is, this is our goal. Welcome, Liz.

[00:34] Liz: Thank you.

[00:37] Jan: So glad to have you.

[00:38] I have known Liz just from different conferences, writing conferences and things.

[00:45] But then her new book came out on prayer, and it just crossed my Facebook free feed, and I just went, okay, I need that, I need that. But I didn't know what a treat it was going to be until I really got into it.

[00:59] So we are to delve into that topic and with our expert here.

[01:08] Liz: Okay. All right.

[01:10] Jan: No pressure,

[01:11] no pressure,

[01:12] no pressure. So you are in for a treat.

[01:16] All right, Liz, I want to just start out first of all, welcoming you here. I'm so delighted that you are here. This is just gonna be rich.

[01:26] And let's start out. Could you tell me kind of your.

[01:29] What brought you to a call to and a passion for prayer?

[01:35] Liz: Well, I.

[01:37] It's kind of a full circle moment.

[01:41] Have you ever had an experience, Jan, that.

[01:44] That changed your whole life moving forward?

[01:47] Absolutely,

[01:48] yeah. I had one in my mid-20s when I began participating in a prayer group that was organized by a graduate student from the university near me. And the experience totally broadened my understanding of what prayer could be.

[02:05] And I've prayed about it. And I believe you are the person to lead the prayer group after I leave. Patrick informed me he was the founder and the leader of the group.

[02:17] And without a second's hesitation, I let him know that he was wrong.

[02:26] I didn't know how.

[02:28] And he was politely insistent.

[02:32] And over his final couple of months, he came every Sunday night for dinner and taught me the tools of prayer.

[02:39] He sat down with me after dinner and taught me the tools.

[02:45] And I have been both a participant and a leader of prayer groups ever since.

[02:51] It came full circle for me decades later when I was asked to mentor a 6th grade prayer committee at the Christian School.

[02:58] I worked and I began teaching them some of the very things that I first learned on those Sunday nights all those years ago.

[03:08] Mentoring 6th grade committees led to teaching about prayer in 7th grade Christian studies classes,

[03:14] mentoring other women, writing both a devotional proven character, praying for our children and the Bible study that we're talking about today. Stand in prayer.

[03:26] Purposeful prayer with powerful outcomes.

[03:31] Plus, I was involved in Moms in Prayer, which is an international organization for probably 25, 30 years now.

[03:43] I'd have to do math in my head to tell you exactly for a

[03:46] Jan: long time,

[03:50] Liz: but we're going to skip that part.

[03:52] But so it's been a full circle thing for me.

[03:59] And because I had the blessing of someone who didn't just,

[04:06] well, he recognized a call that God had on my life and identified it in me.

[04:12] And then,

[04:14] so I initially wrote my Bible study for those sixth graders,

[04:21] all those sixth graders that I worked with for those years.

[04:25] And then I rewrote it this time kind of for moms. I wanted to target moms, anybody really, who needed to learn about prayer.

[04:34] But,

[04:35] but I was targeting moms who want to pray for and support their children by, by, you know, covering them with prayer, standing in the gap for them.

[04:49] So that's kind of the heart behind why I wrote the study.

[04:55] And then the other thing is, is that there are things that we can learn about prayer that will help us be more powerful and effective.

[05:07] Jan: I think your, your key there is the tools for prayer, because I think it is kind of a lot of times a nebulous thing. It's like,

[05:18] okay, we have the Our Father,

[05:21] we have different,

[05:24] you know, some examples here, there, or in a lot of denominations just have a written out prayer. And so you're just reading it and you know what somebody else said and wrote.

[05:37] And it's not to diminish any of that. It's just to say that,

[05:41] that if you're left on your own, you don't always know what those tools are. I mean, you pray and you see some answers and you know you're doing right along the way.

[05:54] Liz: But,

[05:55] but there's nothing wrong with those written prayers.

[05:59] But you do want to have,

[06:01] I think, do think it is important so to understand kind of what, what it is.

[06:10] I,

[06:11] I had a, A,

[06:13] a gal at school approach me with her phone out, ready to record and ask,

[06:23] Mrs. Holtzman, how would you define prayer?

[06:27] Oh,

[06:29] my mind went blank.

[06:32] Has your break, has your brain ever abandoned you in a moment like that?

[06:36] Okay, now, at the school where I worked, I was known as the prayer lady.

[06:41] I mean, if anybody should have had an articulate response,

[06:44] it would have been you.

[06:46] Should have been me.

[06:50] The dictionary I looked in had nine definitions.

[06:54] Oh,

[06:55] and used words like devout petition and spiritual communion with God.

[07:05] Exactly. They're beautiful and true,

[07:10] but not a lot of practical help.

[07:13] And in my defense,

[07:14] it, it's not an easy thing to define.

[07:17] Because God,

[07:19] because prayer, excuse me, prayer is more than just asking God there's things or something to turn to only in a crisis.

[07:29] Prayer is a key foundation to an ongoing, full,

[07:34] abundant relationship with God.

[07:38] And good relationships require good communication. Right,

[07:43] right.

[07:44] Good communication. Well, now, that's complicated.

[07:48] I mean,

[07:49] it's got writing, it's got speech,

[07:53] it's got body language,

[07:56] it's got that look your mother gave you.

[08:02] And all those things work,

[08:05] but some better than others.

[08:07] And just as there are things that we can learn about how to be better communicators,

[08:14] there are things that we can learn about prayer that will help us to be powerful and effective by being intentional and strategic in how we do it.

[08:31] Because.

[08:32] Well, because prayer is about relationship with God. It shares some of those complexities of good communication.

[08:40] Jan: Yeah.

[08:42] Liz: So I teach in the Bible study.

[08:47] Part of what I want people to come away with from the Bible study is an understanding, a deeper understanding of the power and the purpose of the individual parts of a prayer model.

[09:05] And I.

[09:08] Sorry, I lost my train of thought there for a second. I want them to understand the power and the purpose, because if you understand the power and the purpose of those individual parts, then you can build and create all kinds of prayers that.

[09:24] That will be effective for your purposes. I chose those words, intentional and strategic on purpose, because intentional means doing something on purpose with a plan.

[09:40] And strategic,

[09:42] in military terms implies a plan to outwit the enemy and optimize the accomplishment of your purpose.

[09:52] Jan: Yes, yes.

[09:55] Liz: So most models for prayer start with praise,

[10:02] move on to confession,

[10:04] then thanksgiving and requests.

[10:08] And praise is anything that we think or say or do that affirms or expresses truth about who God is.

[10:20] Hmm.

[10:20] It's a little bit like paying God compliments.

[10:23] And because they're true,

[10:26] they have power because we know the truth has the power to set us free from the power of sin and death,

[10:35] but it also has power to draw us into God's presence.

[10:42] Psalm 104 says, Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

[10:48] Jan: Yeah.

[10:49] Liz: Okay.

[10:50] So when we start our prayers with praise,

[10:53] then we are entering. It draws us into God's presence.

[10:59] The other thing that praise accomplishes, when we have it at the beginning of our prayers,

[11:06] is that it has power to silence our spiritual enemies.

[11:14] Psalm 82 in NIV version. It's different in different versions, but in NIV it says,

[11:21] through the praise of children and infants,

[11:25] you have established a stronghold against your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger.

[11:35] So this silencing, this drawing into God's presence and silencing of the enemy, coming ahead of Confession allows us to come into confession free of the condemnation of the enemy that leads to shame and paralysis and more open to the appropriate conviction of the Holy Spirit that leads to change and positive growth.

[12:08] So you can see why the purpose impacts the part that comes next.

[12:14] And moving on into thanksgiving from there.

[12:18] Thanking God for His blessings and answers to prayer encourages our faith,

[12:26] which helps us to overcome doubt,

[12:31] okay? And one of the reasons why we don't, one of the reasons why we don't always get what we ask for, it tells us in Scriptures is because we doubt.

[12:41] And so thanksgiving and praise encourages our faith, which helps us set us over, set aside and overcome doubt,

[12:52] okay?

[12:53] And those three pieces working together ahead of our requests, one of the things that it can accomplish for us is that it can help us by participating in those three pieces first.

[13:06] It helps us be able to evaluate our requests and possibly recognize wrong motives, which is another thing that undermines our prayers is when we ask with wrong motives.

[13:23] And if we can set aside and recognize wrong motives, that increases the likelihood of what we ask being according to God's will.

[13:37] And the Scripture tells us that anything that we ask that we will receive it if it's according to God's will.

[13:45] So,

[13:47] you know, so those are the parts the Bible study digs into those things deeper.

[13:54] But those.

[13:56] That's the heart of what,

[14:00] what I teach in the Bible study is to, to look at those pieces and understand why,

[14:10] what their power is and what their purpose can be so that we can use that effectively.

[14:17] So, like, if you bounce back to praise,

[14:22] it helps if you choose to,

[14:25] if you are praying about a particular concern is to find and dig into the Scriptures and find the truth that are relevant to your prayer request.

[14:40] Things that are true,

[14:42] what are promises in Scripture? What are things that are true about who God is and what he has done that are relevant to the concern that you are praying about.

[14:57] So often when I,

[15:00] if I'm praying for someone who's experienced a loss or a death, I pray that God,

[15:06] I thank God that He mourns with those who mourn that,

[15:12] that I ask Him. I use Scripture then to pray for them and ask that God would draw to them those who, who can give them comfort that they themselves have received from God.

[15:28] And I can't tell you the address to that verse right now, but hopefully it's one some of your people that are listening would be familiar with.

[15:38] But I also believe that things that impact our prayers and other things that impact our prayers is righteousness.

[15:52] In Philippians, it tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

[16:00] And it took a while as I was a young believer, it took a while before I kind of had that aha moment because I thought oh I,

[16:11] I, I don't know that I deserve an answer to this prayer and because I, I'm not good enough.

[16:20] And then God reminded me that my righteousness doesn't have a single thing to do with me and what, and what I do that my righteousness is in, I have, I am righteous because Jesus paid the price for my sins.

[16:43] So I think that God hears the prayers of everyone.

[16:48] People who have accepted him and people who haven't.

[16:52] But I do think that he doesn't answer the same way for everyone.

[16:59] That the fact that we know him as Lord impacts the effectiveness of our prayers. He's always going to answer according to his will,

[17:08] but the fact that we know him as Lord makes a big difference.

[17:13] And then the other thing I think that impacts the effectiveness of our prayers is the accuracy and the depth of our knowledge of God.

[17:25] That the better we know him,

[17:28] the better we get to know him through his word,

[17:32] the more likely it is that we're going to be praying in alignment with the things that God cares about and the things that that are accord according to his, his will.

[17:51] I don't know Jen, you gotta watch out. You get me talking about prayer.

[17:55] Jan: That's why I have you here.

[18:00] I,

[18:01] I think you know when you start one thing when you start with prayer, praise and thanksgiving,

[18:08] it also takes our mind to him and not focus on us,

[18:15] you know. And so,

[18:16] so which is where we want to be and when we're in the presence of Jesus, Satan can't stay

[18:26] Liz: either.

[18:27] There you go. See it's a, it's, it's a powerful,

[18:31] it's a powerful thing.

[18:34] Oh I know when we, you and I were chatting before we started this, you,

[18:39] you said that one of the things that you have appreciated about from the study was the encouragement to use scripture.

[18:50] And I do think that is effective tool is to use scripture to pray. Now of course am I going to be able to put my hand on so like it example of that might be to be able to just put a person's name.

[19:11] You can use it in all kinds of ways.

[19:13] Jan: Okay, let me give you, maybe I can give you an example of somebody

[19:18] Liz: example and then I won't have to think of one.

[19:22] Jan: I. My friend calls yesterday and says that her 22 year old daughter has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

[19:31] Her name is Emma.

[19:34] So that's your prompt that's my prompt.

[19:42] How would we do that? How would we not just go, oh God, you're the God that heals.

[19:49] Liz: I know that saying that that's, that's true.

[19:55] He is the God who heals.

[19:58] Okay, so I.

[20:02] Well,

[20:04] let me think. Okay, so darn.

[20:07] Because here you go. This is why memorizing scripture and not always landing the references are gonna. So in James 5 it tells us that God.

[20:17] So I might start and say,

[20:21] lord,

[20:22] you promise to give us wisdom whenever we ask without finding fault.

[20:32] I ask that you would give wisdom to the doctors and the care team for her daughter. What's her name again?

[20:41] Jan: Emma.

[20:42] Liz: Emma. For Emma. That they would have wisdom.

[20:47] The wisdom that they need to make accurate diagnosis and effective plans for treatment.

[20:58] That would be one way that I would use that verse where he promises to give.

[21:04] If any of you lacks wisdom, ask God and he will give it generously without finding fault is the verse.

[21:14] So I would use that verse to ask for wisdom on the part of the medical team that now that they have found this tumor, Lord, that they would be able to make effective plans for treatment.

[21:31] And then I would ask Lord, please art the desire.

[21:37] God also tells us in the scriptures that we can bring the desires of our heart to him.

[21:44] And I would tell him that the desire of our heart is that she would be healed and cured of her cancer.

[21:54] Because here's another concept that,

[21:59] that.

[22:01] That you might find helpful.

[22:04] It tells us that we do not have because we do not ask.

[22:09] And that's.

[22:11] That kicked me in the butt one time when I read that scripture and thought about all the things that I don't ask.

[22:19] It's like, oh my gosh.

[22:22] Now here's the thing. We only get the.

[22:25] We only get the things that are according to God's will.

[22:31] And that. That's a whole other discussion for another time to try to understand what.

[22:35] How God will impacts all the things that we desire. But I find that reassuring because that means I can ask him for anything.

[22:49] And I'm not also, when I was a young believer, I worried a little bit about asking for the wrong thing. And then what if I got it and it wasn't the right thing?

[23:00] Jan: Wasn't what you're supposed.

[23:02] Liz: Because.

[23:02] Because you know, are things. There is that saying, you know, to be careful what you ask for because you might.

[23:09] But there's comfort in knowing that God is only going to give me the things that are according to his will.

[23:18] And so I.

[23:21] I like that.

[23:24] I don't know. It means that I can come to him and tell him the desires of my heart or tell him the fears or the anxiety that I have or the sadness or the confusion,

[23:40] that none of that is gonna take him by surprise or alienate him.

[23:48] And there. And so I can stand on God's promises and the things that I find in his word about his character and use those when I pray.

[24:01] Jan: Let me ask this.

[24:02] Liz: So in the book that I wrote called proven praying for your children,

[24:09] it has scripture prayers for 31 different character traits. I wrote them because I worked at a school,

[24:17] and I was wanting to support the development of character in our students.

[24:23] And we would give character awards every spring. So I wanted a prayer for the words that we would give out,

[24:30] so I would write scripture prayers. Okay, so let's see. Let's just open to one.

[24:39] So here's a prayer for courage.

[24:41] All right?

[24:42] So, Lord,

[24:45] my daughter's name is Anna. I'll pray for Anna.

[24:48] Lord, Anna is your handiwork. You have created good work for her to do.

[24:55] Help Anna to be strong and courageous and do the work.

[25:00] Okay? This is based on two scriptures. One. One of them is from 1st Chronicles 28:20,

[25:09] where David is giving a charge to Solomon and says, be strong,

[25:13] courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged because the Lord God,

[25:19] my God, will never fail or forsake you until the work in the service of the Lord is finished.

[25:25] Okay? So you could hear part of that verse in that prayer that says, help Anna to be strong and courageous and do the work.

[25:35] Okay? And then Ephesians where he talks about, we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he prepared for us ahead of time. So you can see.

[25:50] So can you see how I use those scriptures to pull out a prayer for Anna to be courageous?

[25:59] And then it goes on and has a few more.

[26:02] A few more scriptures. But see, then you can.

[26:06] The nice thing about using scripture to pray is that it also helps you be aligned with God's will because you're.

[26:19] You're using the very words that. That he.

[26:22] That he wrote. God wants to answer that prayer. He wants to help Anna be courageous and strong and do the work.

[26:31] And so when I use those scriptures to pray,

[26:34] I mean, it's not.

[26:36] It's not like an absolute guarantee that I'm going to see that worked out exactly the way I was hoping, like, that she would get all her homework done and turned in on time and that sort of stu.

[26:48] But I mean,

[26:50] it's a pretty strong guarantee that God is going to want to answer that prayer because I pulled it straight out of,

[27:00] of his,

[27:01] out of his Word.

[27:03] Jan: So what, what ways can people find the, the kinds of scriptures that are those promises or those parts. What's, how do you go about that?

[27:15] Liz: Well, one of the ways that I do it is with the search feature on my online Bible.

[27:23] Jan: Okay, put.

[27:24] Liz: I'll put.

[27:26] Okay. So I just talked about courage.

[27:29] I will use a concordance and look up verses about courage.

[27:37] So when I sat down to write these, I came home with the list of character traits that we used,

[27:44] that we had certificates for at my school school that we used for the awards at the end of the year. And I came home and I sat down with the intent of writing a scripture prayer for the character traits.

[27:58] That's what I was going to do in the summer. And so that's what I did.

[28:03] I hung out with my handy dandy concordance and looked for prayers on courage or healing or whatever it is that I'm trying to or, you know, is relevant to the thing that I'm.

[28:22] That I'm praying for.

[28:25] So the caution that, that I give for that is that you have to be very careful if you start that way,

[28:36] that you don't just pick and cherry pick a verse out of context.

[28:45] Context is really important because there are some scriptures that you can cherry pick out that it sounds like it says one thing when you just have the verse all by itself.

[29:01] And.

[29:02] But then when you,

[29:05] when you look at the context that it's in,

[29:10] then we realize that maybe it doesn't mean exactly that.

[29:16] Jan: Yeah. Yeah.

[29:17] Liz: That's why you know that you gotta be careful about that.

[29:22] So I mean, one of the ways you find them is by being a faithful student of the Word.

[29:29] I think it's so,

[29:30] it's highlighter component so that by studying the Word, you're going to be you. You've learned it. Okay. So you might have to, you know, get your concordance out so you can find.

[29:44] Where is the parable of the Sower after all? I know it's in the gospels.

[29:49] Help me find that baby. Yeah, but you know about it. You know it's there.

[29:54] And,

[29:55] but so I use Bible tools to do that when I sit down to write. I write a lot of prayers.

[30:08] I, when I send emails, I frequently end them with,

[30:12] with a prayer for someone.

[30:15] And,

[30:16] and especially when someone like what you just did tells me about Emma and her.

[30:25] I just did this.

[30:26] I stayed up a little late last night because I got a prayer request at like 10:30 at night for this very thing for someone who had cancer. And so I.

[30:37] I wrote a prayer.

[30:40] And so. Because I always start with praise. And one of the things that was hard for me when I first started doing this,

[30:48] this prayer model is the same prayer model that the moms in prayer group uses, and it separates praise away from Thanksgiving.

[30:56] Okay.

[30:57] So praise is just about praising God for his character, for who he is. It's not about ask. It's not about thanking him for prayers or answered prayers. It's just about praising God.

[31:11] When I first started having my sixth graders do this, it was. It was painful because they really had a terrible time getting past.

[31:20] Past the big two.

[31:22] Jan: Thank you.

[31:24] Liz: We praise you, God, for loving us and for dying for our sins. And then once they got past those two, they were. It was.

[31:32] It was. It was hard. It was.

[31:34] We put character traits up on the wall about God that he's just. That he's patient, that he's.

[31:40] Yeah,

[31:41] he's sovereign. He's.

[31:44] We put a bunch. And that. That helped him get over the.

[31:47] Yeah.

[31:48] Oh. In the beginning, when I first started doing moms in prayer, and the very first part wasn't to include Thanksgiving, I was like,

[31:58] ooh.

[32:02] I wasn't dissimilar to the sixth graders.

[32:05] I was able to go a little beyond the big two. Thanks for loving us.

[32:10] But it was tough. And now it's like, really one of my favorite parts because.

[32:18] Points me to. To who he is and.

[32:23] And.

[32:24] And his faithfulness and the. The.

[32:28] I love. I love that part now, but. But.

[32:32] So sometimes it takes me a while. Sometimes I have to get out my Bible and look. I asked God to show me what truth is relevant to this need.

[32:49] Show me the truth that is relevant to this need. And I start my praise then with that truth that the Holy Spirit brings to mind or shows me so that I try to praise him for things that.

[33:07] The other beautiful thing about praise, because you're saying true things, is that it talks about entering,

[33:16] that he's a strong refuge and a foundation. You know, we have the parable of the house being built on the rock,

[33:23] that when we need his strength and his.

[33:28] For him to be our refuge,

[33:31] the thing that we want to stand on is the truth, because it's the rock on which we can stand.

[33:39] And so praise.

[33:41] I think praise is largely overlooked when it comes to prayer.

[33:47] And I think it's one of the most powerful parts.

[33:52] It can be one of the most powerful parts of your prayer time because it anchors you in what's true,

[34:01] and it anchors you in God,

[34:05] and then you can move forward in that communication.

[34:12] And it really does become about that relationship with him, that. That's full and abundant and rich, because you can bring all of it to him.

[34:25] Everything.

[34:26] You can tell him how angry you are.

[34:29] You can tell him, you know,

[34:31] you can tell him that you. I. I don't know if I trust you about this.

[34:38] Jan: Right.

[34:38] Liz: You know?

[34:40] Jan: Yeah. So we're almost out.

[34:43] Liz: And here's one of my. This here's one of the things I love. In Romans 8:26, it talks about that the Holy Spirit, when we don't know what to pray, prays with us for us, with groans and our two dead.

[34:56] He knows our hearts and the will of the Father.

[35:00] I gotta tell you,

[35:02] there are times that I have been deeply thankful that groans too deep for words count as prayers.

[35:12] Jan: Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[35:16] Liz: My husband died unexpectedly three and a half years ago, almost to the day.

[35:23] And here I am, a person who spent hours and hours praying and praying for other people at a point where words were just didn't come.

[35:39] Okay. Now, one of the gifts of that was I have two ladies that.

[35:44] That I pray with every week on Zoom.

[35:48] We started doing it in the pandemic to keep moms in prayer going, and then we just kept doing it anyway. We didn't quit.

[35:55] He just kept doing it.

[35:58] So I have two women that I've been praying with ever since the pandemic started on Zoom. Once a week. We started because we're trying to keep moms in prayer going from the school.

[36:12] And then we've just kept doing it every week ever since for what,

[36:16] almost six years now.

[36:19] And during that time when I couldn't find words,

[36:28] June sent me a prayer in a text that. That prayed exactly.

[36:36] Was exactly what I wanted to pray. Do you know what I mean? That she.

[36:41] She gave words to what my heart and my brain weren't up to putting out. You know, expressing one of those moments when I'm glad that groans too deep for words count and that there's another concept that I like, that I can pray in agreement with the Holy Spirit, with what the Holy Spirit is praying and what Jesus is praying for us.

[37:11] I can.

[37:12] I can choose to pray in agreement. I often close my prayers that way that I surrender my prayers under yours because I want to pray in agreement with what you are interceding for us.

[37:24] Because, you know, every heart, every need, and the will of the Father.

[37:29] Jan: Yeah.

[37:30] Liz: Is very often how I end my prayers.

[37:32] Jan: Yeah. Do you have a prayer that's been answered that you could share with us?

[37:39] Liz: Oh, my.

[37:45] One of my Very favorite ones kind of involves a bit,

[37:49] involves telling a bit of a story. It has a lot of details, but it,

[37:53] it's just one of my favorites at the moment.

[37:58] One of my two friends that I pray with every week is run a ministry called Children's Ministry Resources International.

[38:08] We provide materials for.

[38:10] In third world countries like Cameroon and Uganda and some other places in the world. But Cameroon is the one where I would love to tell you this a story of answered prayer,

[38:24] just because it's so amazing.

[38:28] So there's a woman in Cameroon named Irene and she is. She's a native Cameroonian from native tribe there in Africa.

[38:41] And she has been taking the gospel into places that it's never been before.

[38:47] Because she's native,

[38:50] she can go places that some of the rest of us, you know,

[38:55] can't go.

[38:56] And so she starts,

[38:59] she starts Bible clubs with kids in little villages.

[39:03] So we're always praying for a string of villages on it,

[39:07] on little dirt roads into the middle of nowhere. Okay. Because you go a little wire in this little village and go another little way in another little village.

[39:16] So we've prayed down a number of roads and for about a year and a half we were praying for a road that she was starting Bible clubs on that had 31 villages.

[39:27] And we'd been praying and there were particularly. These were pretty remote villages and it was a.

[39:35] So they just. There weren't any believers.

[39:40] And so we'd been praying and she'd been going along and gradually more and more Bible clubs. And we had like 14 people,

[39:50] young people, except Christ. And we were very excited.

[39:54] And so that's an answer to prayer, of course.

[39:59] But so we're, we're going along and eventually over this year and a half or so,

[40:05] all 31 villages had a Bible club and Irene. We got a prayer request.

[40:14] It amazes me that people can be out in the middle of nowhere and still get on WhatsApp,

[40:19] send a message. It's like they don't have electricity, but when they get the charge anyway.

[40:25] So she sends us a thing. They're gonna, they are going to,

[40:31] they're going to show a movie. The,

[40:33] the,

[40:34] the Jesus movie.

[40:36] Villagers.

[40:37] And the generator had not worked and the little white truck that they used to get to some places wasn't working quite right. And she said, we're going to try again tomorrow.

[40:48] Please pray.

[40:49] So we.

[40:51] So we're praying for. I have prayed more for this little white truck over the last six years.

[40:59] Anyway, so we pray and so we're waiting to hear. And we get a Text. We get a text message back, and she says, it worked. The generator worked. The truck worked.

[41:11] We showed the movie.

[41:13] And like,

[41:14] so she gives us a report. So, like 30, 12 or 13 young people accepted Christ and four young people and one old man.

[41:26] And so we were.

[41:29] We were thrilled that the generator. The generator worked. The next day,

[41:36] it all came together.

[41:37] So now I'm going to tell you another little side story.

[41:42] A man who worked for Wycliffe and was a missionary, he and his wife in Cameroon for almost 30 years.

[41:50] He's the person who went in and worked and wrote down the language of the Maka people.

[41:57] Jan: Okay?

[41:58] Liz: The people, okay.

[42:01] And in that 30 years, they never had a convert.

[42:07] Okay.

[42:08] But he came back home and his sending church was the same church that the people who develop the materials that we use are in. And he translated our materials into French,

[42:19] which is what they use in the French half a Cameroon, which is where Irene is in the French half.

[42:25] Okay?

[42:27] So about a week after all of this, I get a text from Michelle,

[42:34] and she said, you guys,

[42:37] you know the 31 villages? And we're like, yeah, of course we know the 31 villages we've been praying for forever.

[42:45] She said,

[42:47] they're Maka people.

[42:53] Oh, my gosh. I was like,

[42:56] did you tell the Heaths?

[43:00] Did you tell them? He's. Yes.

[43:02] She said, and they're so humble. They're like, oh, that's such good news.

[43:06] Now they aren't.

[43:08] They probably were not the first Maa people ever to accept Christ. Just in this area where, you know, they just never been. Been reached.

[43:21] Jan: Yeah.

[43:22] Liz: This is. This is how God works through.

[43:26] I drew a web of bubbles for our.

[43:29] Michelle's kids have been to Cameroon a number of times. They're like, in seventh grade and sophomore in high school, but they've been going the last four or five years. So they know all these people.

[43:40] Now here's the thing.

[43:42] My husband and I for like 40 years have supported a missionary couple.

[43:47] They are a missionary couple. They worked with the Heaths in Cameroon.

[43:51] Oh, my gosh.

[43:52] Supporting and praying for people in Cameroon.

[43:57] Jan: Listen, this one.

[43:58] Liz: Okay. Okay. Do you see how this web.

[44:04] Jan: Yes.

[44:05] Liz: Come together?

[44:06] Jan: Yes.

[44:07] Liz: The Heaths worked in Cameroon,

[44:10] retired and came back.

[44:13] Irene,

[44:16] any rate it. There are more parts to this web that would absolutely blow your mind,

[44:22] but my jaw dropped. Here. We've been praying for these villages, for these 31 villages.

[44:31] And we're so excited because we were up to a grand total of 31 children in one old man who had accepted Christ.

[44:40] And I mean, not. I mean we were happy about that. But when Michelle sent us a text and said there was macaque people,

[44:49] we were like,

[44:52] Jan: which, of course, you shouldn't be astounded with, because God sees the overarching whole story of all of it and pulls it together. I'm going to use her. I'm going to use him.

[45:03] I'm going to put this together with these people because they're going to be my people.

[45:07] Liz: So I have this bubble map with all these bubbles, the he,

[45:12] the wittigs, Jim and I,

[45:14] June and Michelle and I, praying every month, some other people coming in around here that that impacted this. And in the middle is a bubble that says, 31 kids, one old man.

[45:28] Jan: But, Liz, here's the thing. That story's not over because God is good.

[45:34] Liz: It's not over at all.

[45:36] Jan: Plus, to do greater and more things, right? Yeah.

[45:42] Liz: Yeah.

[45:44] It's kind of my favorite. If I stopped and thought, I. I know there. You know, there are times, just ordinary things, but God that you look at and go, oh, my gosh, look at that.

[45:56] Jan: That's amazing. That's amazing.

[45:59] Liz: Do you just love the Lord? Do you just love how he orchestrates things?

[46:06] And I went to a Christian product expo this past February because my Bible study was coming out. And at that expo,

[46:16] it's an expo of all kinds of books and things that Christian bookstores or Christian retailers would want to sell.

[46:23] And you get to pitch your Bible study to Christian bookstores and all this. So I met a man there that was selling solar Bibles,

[46:33] a Solar MP3 player that has the Bible on it.

[46:39] And he had him in all kinds of languages.

[46:43] So I'm. I'm like. He's explaining all this to me,

[46:47] and I said,

[46:49] do you have it in Makah?

[46:51] And he says, I don't know, but I'll go look.

[46:58] And he said.

[47:01] He went, and it's online. He says,

[47:04] yes, we can have it in Macau.

[47:07] Jan: Oh, my gosh.

[47:09] Liz: Certainly we have those materials in French.

[47:13] And they don't have a Bible. They don't have the whole thing.

[47:15] Yeah,

[47:16] they don't have it.

[47:19] And I'm like, I'll take five.

[47:22] And then because we worked with some Rwandan refugees that are in Uganda but want to go back to Rwanda with the gospel,

[47:33] and they need the Bible in Kenya, Rwanda.

[47:37] And so I was like, do you have it in?

[47:42] Yes, they did. I was like, this is great. Take five of those.

[47:49] But then they're just the sweet answers to prayer for students.

[47:53] Jan: Yeah.

[47:53] Liz: How God just works to bring things about.

[47:58] We don't get everything we ask for.

[48:01] But the beautiful thing is that God knows the hard things.

[48:07] Those hard moments when you're like, really, God?

[48:11] Why wouldn't you answer this prayer?

[48:13] It makes total sense in my heart that you should answer it this way.

[48:19] Why did you not heal?

[48:21] You know, one of the things that my daughter Anna,

[48:24] you know, said so many people prayed for my dad and he still died.

[48:30] You know,

[48:31] it doesn't always,

[48:33] always get the answer that we would hope, you know, hope for,

[48:39] but we do get the presence of God with us through the hard things and the nose that the time that we spend with him in prayer helps us be anchored and find his peace in the midst of the hard and to find the strength to move forward even in the mess that that may or may not have gotten resolve the way that we wanted.

[49:15] Jan: Perfect way to end our interview.

[49:18] This has just been so rich.

[49:21] We could go on for many hours, couldn't we?

[49:25] We might have to do another episode, another time.

[49:30] Liz: It's never a good thing to get me going, talking about prayer,

[49:35] because that is the thing that God has called me to.

[49:38] Everyone has a call to prayer.

[49:42] Now, not everyone has that same call,

[49:45] the same kind of call to intercession that God calls some people to, that he like that he calls me to.

[49:52] And for the years and years and years that I spent praying for the school where I worked and the students where I worked and the teachers and the families.

[50:03] But prayer is critical to a full relationship with God, one that is not just shallow and deep.

[50:13] And all kinds of prayers count all the way from those groans to the very fancy written ones that have survived the test of time in our liturgies,

[50:27] have great value.

[50:31] One of the reasons I like written prayers is that they also serve me well when I am caught without words.

[50:41] Don't know what to pray,

[50:42] to be able to fall back on written prayers.

[50:47] It's one of the things that I value about them.

[50:49] Jan: Well, I am so grateful that you chose to be on our show and to share all of this with us because there's so much there. I'm glad that there will be a transcript with it so people can go back and read things and catch up and go, oh, yeah, okay,

[51:05] okay, let me hear that again. At least look at it again and whatever, because it's. This has been so, so good. Thank you.

[51:11] Liz: I prayed today and asked my Bible study ladies this morning to pray for me that I could be articulate and in my own private prayers as.

[51:21] Jan: Okay, well, thank you, Liz.

[51:23] Liz: Thanks. You're welcome. Thanks, Jan.