On April 7, 2024, the Women’s Ministry Department of the New Hope S.D.A. Church in Ellenwood, Georgia, held their annual Spring Prayer Breakfast, under the theme, “Lord, Teach Us to Pray.” The guest speaker was Dr. Nadine Collins, International Speaker, Women’s Leadership & Empowerment Coach, Prayer Counselor, and Author.

In the fellowship hall beautifully decorated in fuchsia and white, with just a little over 40 women of all ages and stages of life in attendance, Dr. Collins led the “Daughters of Hope” and invited guests through the basics of developing an intimate relationship with God through the medium of prayer. Using real life experiences, she shared with the group the benefits of prayer and how much more effective one’s prayer life can be when they hear and listen to the voice of God.

Dr. Collins holds a Ph.D. in Educational Administration but has dedicated herself to full-time ministry. She travels globally empowering the prayer lives of others as a leading expert on “prayer.”

“Prayer is a conversation with God,” she said. “It is a dialogue, not a monologue.” The contact we make with God through prayer engenders intimacy, familiarity, and warmth, leaving one feeling as if they are God’s only child. As we develop intimacy with God, each of us can confidently say, I’m first in line and there’s no one behind me. We don’t have to compete for God’s attention; we have unlimited time with Him, and nothing can separate us from His love for us. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).

Prayer is not a gift; it is a personal relationship where God is whoever we need Him to be…Healer, Provider, Friend, Comforter…the list is endless. Her simple but impactful encouragement to us women was to “Love the Lord, and like Him!” As our relationship with God grows and strengthens, we will also grow to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength (Mark 12:30).

God doesn’t like long distance relationships. She added that the closer we are to God, the more likely we are, like Elijah in the cave on Mount Horeb, to hear His still, small voice. What God has to say to us is much more important than what we have to say to Him. Dr. Collins also pointed out that oftentimes we’re so rushed and hurried in the presence of God that He doesn’t have time to respond. We just need to be still in His presence and wait to hear from Him.

“Prayer is about obedience,” she shared, citing the example of when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. When God gives us a vision, we don’t need other people to validate the vision; we only need to be obedient. She also cautioned that we shouldn’t be so excited to execute the will of God that we step outside of His will, as Abraham and Sarah did in their attempt to fulfill God’s promise to make Abraham the father of many nations.

Prayer also allows us to build relationships with each other, she said. Forming prayer groups can be helpful when we, as women, create and become a safe space for each other, and not use the opportunity to gossip about other people’s problems. For our prayers to be effective, we need purity in our hearts and in our spirits. Dr. Collins went on further to say that we cannot pray in agreement if we are living in disagreement with each other and encouraged us as women to be nicer to each and to be positive influencers where God has placed us.

She shared another principle she called “Passing Notes to God.” Many times, we ask others to pray for us more often than we should because we feel wedon’t have a good enough relationship with God. This, she purported, was equivalent to passing notes to God, but equivocally stated that we all have access to God for ourselves. When we spend time with God, it’s an investment in ourselves; it’s a great investment of our time with a good return, like when we honor God by keeping His Sabbath, He will honor us. “When you invest time with God in the morning, you bless your day,” she explained. Nevertheless, if we do ask others to pray for us, we need to tell our true request, and be honest, vulnerable, and authentic.

Dr. Collins was a guest on 3ABN Dare-to-Dream Urban Report ‘How To Pray,’ which led to a new (13-part) program on prayer called ‘The Missing Peace.’ She also has a series on Blessings that is headlined on Hope Channel, Kenya, an empowerment series for women on Destiny TV in South Africa and serves on the instructional team of Mark Finley’s HopeLives365 Online University. Most recently, she was honored by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts House of Representatives for her work with women and on prayer.

In her role as Prayer Counselor, Dr. Collins launched the very first Online Prayer Training program—Certified Prayer Counselor class to equip others in learning how to connect more meaningfully with God and to learn how to get more YES answers from Him by using proven Biblical strategies and tools so that they in turn, can empower others to do the same.

Her goal is that more faith-based women can break free from indoctrinations, fear, and anything that sets barriers to their advancement. Dr. Collins helps women build their speaking platforms and write and publish world-class books through her one-on-one and group coaching programs.

The author of nine books, including ‘Make Your Prayer Life Go WOW’, Secrets of the WOW Praying Woman, WOW Prayer Battle Plan for Spiritual Warfare, The Pursuit of Purpose: Woman’s Guide to Activate Her Full Potential and Uniquely Impact the World; and her latest, WOW Prayers for the Holy Spirit, Dr. Collins boldly announces Prayer as her #1 Business Strategy and encourages her clients to embrace their relationship with God to fulfill their Divine purpose.

To bring her talk to a close, Dr. Collins demonstrated, by sharing of some of her own life experiences, how prayer can bring success. Being specific in prayer not only tells God what we need, but it also helps in exercising our faith in the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and who will not withhold any good thing from His children.

The blessings we all received that Sunday morning were immeasurable, with the women reconsecrating themselves through prayers offered by Elder Claris Alexander, our Prayer Coordinator, and Dr. Trudy-Ann Frazer. God’s Spirit was present, and He used Dr. Collins in a mighty way to bring hope, healing, and encouragement to those in attendance through her spoken and written word. Her words echoed Ellen G. White’s famous quote on prayer: “Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that its necessary, in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him.” —Steps to Christ, 93.

Contributors: Dr. Trudy-Ann Frazer, Dr. Dahlia Pottinger, and Maureen Thomas, Women’s Ministry Leader; Bio: Dr. Nadine Collins.
Photo credits: Terrence Bowen

Dr. Nadine Collins, International Speaker, Women’s Leadership & Empowerment Coach, Prayer Counselor, and Author

Dr. Nadine Collins with the New Hope S.D.A. Church Women’s Ministry Leadership Team
(L-R: Dr. Sharalyn Martin, Donnaree Walford, Genes Durand, Dr. Dahlia Pottinger, Dr. Nadine Collins, Michelle Edwards, Heroline Frazer, Maureen Thomas)