April 2024 Newsletter

The necessity of prayer

Since the inception of His Mansion in 1971, prayer has been a foundational underpinning of the ministry. As the whole community seeks to follow Jesus and see Him restore broken lives, prayer permeates the campus.

Because the opposite of addiction is connection, His Mansion Residents learn how to connect to God through prayer. In a four-month class called “Inner Healing,” these men and women frequently talk to God about the pain of their past for one or two hours at a time. After completing this class, one Resident defines prayer “as simple as expressing exactly how I feel to God and knowing that He already knows my heart.” Other Residents describe prayer as “a muscle,” “honest, unfiltered dialogue,” and “intimacy, strength, and breath.”

But why does prayer matter? “Because our relationship with God matters,” answers Dave Hultgren, counselor and men’s Inner Healing class instructor, “and if we’re going to be connected with Him, we need to believe that He cares, and that He listens, and that He’ll meet us in our brokenness.” Noelle Jones, also a counselor and women’s Inner Healing class instructor, says, “I think prayer matters because, fundamentally, that’s what we’re made for: communion with Him.”

Their students agree. “Prayer has changed God from a concept off in the distance to a reality to live with every day,” one says, while another states, “Prayer has brought me closer to the Father’s love for me.”

As God’s children commune with Him, He uses prayer to shape them. While leading resident men in prayer, Dave observes, “I see them go from hardened about their sin to deep repentance, brokenness, feeling the shame, but feeling that Christ is there to heal them.” As resident women pray, Noelle sees faith and love of scripture grow: “The more that they’re speaking to Him, the more they start to be hungry to hear Him and to interact with Him.”

Prayer also matters because God says in His Word to do it. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6 writes, “With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” Jesus Himself prayed frequently, and in Matthew 6 gave His disciples a model for prayer. Paul says to “pray without ceasing,” suggesting that prayer is all-encompassing, like breathing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Furthermore, prayer matters because God has made it possible. “He’s made every way for us to be able to commune with Him, right?” Noelle smiles. “Like He sent His Son to pay our debt so that we could be right with Him. He gave us the scriptures so that He could speak to us through them, and He gave us the Holy Spirit so He would dwell in us. I mean, there’s nothing more He could have done!”

As Christians draw near to God in prayer, relationships with one another grow. “Prayer has given me a better understanding of what true relationship is, especially with other Christians,” one Resident observes. At His Mansion, all of the staff gather to pray every Monday morning, while small groups gather regularly in dorms, offices and the chapel to seek the Lord. Two people praying together is a common sight. “I’ve learned the power of Christ and how He intercedes for me through my neighbor,” a Resident testifies.

Graduation day

On February 23rd His Mansion held a graduation ceremony. The chapel was filled with more than 130 community members, partners, friends and graduate family members, all coming together to celebrate the restoring hope of Jesus Christ in the lives of the four graduates.

Partnership opportunities

• Prayer. Add His Mansion to your daily prayers.
• Consider serving with your church for a summer Work Group at His Mansion.
• Join the His Mansion team. His Mansion is hiring a Women’s Counselor and a Men’s Program Administrator.
• Give to the His Mansion general fund. His Mansion is funded entirely by faithful financial partners.

Prayer requests

• For God to send a Men’s Program Administrator and a Women’s Counselor.
• For the men’s and women’s dorms to be places of healing, joy and Christ-centered friendships.
• For the families of the men and women in the Resident Recovery Program.
• For the Servant Leaders to be strengthened and equipped as they minister in the dorms.