It’s hard to say exactly when this turnabout happened, but I know prayer
is needed. This entire situation made me take a strong look at how as citizens of
the Kingdom we should be praying. I must say I’ve come to the conclusion that
overall we need to do better, especially those of us in the Western World.
Looking back over my life in Christ, I see there was a time
when prayer was all about Me! And as a babe in Christ that is understandable,
because even in the natural it is all about the newborn, baby and toddler. It
takes time for them to realize it is not all about them. It took time for me to
learn to pray for others, and even then I would often pick and choose who I
wanted to pray for.
We can be all over the place when it comes to the—how—when—and
where of it all.
I feel the reason we don’t know how to pray is a general lack of understanding of whom God is and what it means to be a new
person in Christ when we first get saved. We really don’t have a clue and what
happens is we often fall into the wrong hands. And when I say, “Wrong hands” I
am referring to the many books on the market giving formulas on how to pray,
church congregations making it a musical event with a bunch of screaming and hollering,
misleading TV preachers and well meaning friends and family who don’t really understand themselves.
Think about if every woman who has ever had a miscarriage, still born
baby or a baby die in the womb before birth prayed daily for others who are
experiencing this great loss—what would that look like in the heavens?
If every mother who has had to bury a child were to pray
daily for those who will live through that experience today—what a difference
that would make!
Suppose every woman who is in a loveless marriage, not only
prayed for her marriage, but prayed for all her sisters who are in the same place
she is—what would that be like?
As you battle breast cancer, what if you pray daily for all
your sisters who are battling cancer and their families too? If you have ever
been hungry, homeless, unemployed, physically abused, imprisoned, or on drugs—what
if you prayed daily for those who are experiencing these things in their lives
now—how would that affect the Kingdom of God here on earth?
The Bible tells us that we are to comfort each other with
the same comfort in which, God comforted us in our time of need. And why is
that? Because though I can encourage anyone in God’s faithfulness, I don’t know
the ache of losing a child, but some of us do and we can speak to the place of
pain that only experience can reach. I don’t know what it is to be in a
marriage with an abusive husband and fear for my life, but some of us do, and
therefore we know how to pray for others in that position in a way that only experience
allows.
My heart is heavy because there seems to be great confusion
when it comes to prayer.
We live in a culture that is all about—me—bigger and better.
We are worrying God about education, the house on the hill, a new car and having
a husband. We’ve been duped into
thinking that there is a special and elite group of prayer warriors and
intercessors and therefore they have been called to pray for the more serious situations.
Wrong! There are no such people, these titles are made up. We (as God’s
children) are called to pray for the serious stuff and world situations. It is
our responsibility to pray for peace in Jerusalem, and our brothers and sisters
who are being massacred each week, raped and sold into slavery.
It is our responsibility to pray for our government and
country. It is our responsibility to pray for those who are experiencing hard
times and great difficulties in life and pray they don’t give up on God. It is
our responsibility to pray for the Body and for those who are lost.
We are instructed to pray without ceasing and that is why I
chose the picture for today. We can talk to God while washing dishes, doing
laundry, riding the bus, waiting at a light, dusting the furniture, brushing
our teeth. It is not about the time you might have to spend on your knees in
the morning or before you go to bed, it is to be a constant. The Holy Spirit lives
in us, we should be tapping into His lead every single day. And the more we do
it, the more our conversation with Him will change.
As I look at what is going on in the world and what is to
come, I’ve started praying daily that I will be able to stand no matter what.
Truth is we like to think we would, but until we are put in that position we
won’t know for sure. I pray that if I were in a public place that was sieged
by Muslim extremist and they asked who was a Christian, I would be one of the
first to stand, even if they threatened to kill one of my daughters or
grandchildren.
There is so much evil going on in this world that we must step
up and take our responsibility of prayer seriously—not assuming others have it
covered.
Any place in life that you have struggled and been set free,
pray for those who are where you used to be. You see sisters, if we pray daily
for those who are living in hells we were delivered from, then things would be covered. All we have to do is believe that God hears us.
As with all privilege there comes responsibility. All who go
by the name, “Christian” have been
given the responsibility to pray for others and the world. If you need a title,
then we are ALL prayer warriors and
we are ALL intercessors. Amen!
Until next week...
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