Traveling on My Knees

Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with an important prayer request.

Thank you for your willingness to pray with us, to pray with me, because this week we’ve got “Wheels for the World” teams going here, there, and everywhere. One team just returned from the Dominican Republic delivering wheelchairs and Bibles to needy disabled people, and next week we have another team in Peru ministering way up in the mountain villages beyond Lima—villages where the needs of people with disabilities are so urgent, so desperate. I’ve been keeping up with all the email reports and the stories I’ve been reading. I tell you what, these stories are nothing short of miraculous. Not only are the lives of disabled people being touched for Christ, but these volunteers—these seating mechanics and physical therapists who make up the “Wheels” team—I think their lives are never going to be the same.

One of the “Wheels for the World” team members is a young woman named Katy. Katy is fresh out of college and is hoping to become a physical therapist. She had never signed up for a “Wheels for the World” team before, but decided the experience would really round out her education. She was a little nervous about traveling all the way to South America, but to encourage herself in her pocket she tucked away a very special poem. It not only keeps her inspired, but reminds her of the importance of praying as she works on each wheelchair and ministers to each disabled child. Katy’s had this poem for a while, and when she sent it to me, I just had to pass it on to you. And this is the way it goes. Listen:

“Last night I took a journey to a land across the seas.
I didn’t go by ship or plane, I traveled on my knees.
I saw so many people there in bondage to their sin,
And Jesus told me I should go, that there were souls to win.

But I said “Jesus, I can’t go to lands across the seas.”
He answered quickly, “Yes you can, by traveling on your knees.”
He said, “You pray; I’ll meet the need. You call and I will hear.
It’s up to you to be concerned for lost souls far and near.”
And so I did; I knelt in prayer, gave up some hours of ease.
And with the Savior by my side, I traveled on my knees.
As I prayed on, I saw souls saved and twisted persons healed.
I saw God’s workers strength renewed while laboring in the field.
I said, “Yes, Lord, I’ll take the job. Your heart I want to please.
I’ll heed your call and swiftly go by traveling on my knees.”

Isn’t that great? And that little poem underscores the wonderful fact about evangelism: that if we don’t pray, if we don’t pave the way with lots of intercession, if we don’t knock on heaven’s door on behalf of lost souls, then hearts simply won’t open. You can look for yourself in the New Testament. The apostle Paul was constantly asking his friends to support him in prayer especially, when he shared the Good News. Paul knew that the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. He knew that the hearts of unsaved people are stone cold toward the salvation message, but prayer opens blind eyes. Prayer softens stony hearts and prayer moves the Spirit of Christ into action.

So, you may know of a friend who is getting ready to travel overseas to do missions work, and I’d love to send you this little poem to give him or her. It’ll remind your Christian friend to keep intercession front and foremost when giving the Gospel in a foreign land. So be sure to go online today at joniandfriends.org where you can download this poem, Traveling on My Knees, from my radio page. And speaking of prayer, please would you be asking God to open the hearts of those villagers in Peru, those people with disabilities. Katy would appreciate it!

© Joni and Friends