Sometimes the most obvious thing to do is to pray. Yet, even when it’s terribly obvious, I sometimes miss it. Thank goodness for friends.
Last night a friend shared something huge and heavy with six of us who work in the same ministry. It was the first time the painful situation—which has been going on for years—had been shared. I made a note to myself to do some serious intercession for this family. And I will. But we were in the middle of a meeting, and honestly, it didn’t even occur to me to pray on the spot.
Thankfully, another person in the group asked, “Can we pray for you right now?” Of course, both our hurting friend and the leader of the group agreed. So we spent the next 20 minutes or so in heartfelt, Spirit-led intercession. The sense of God’s love and presence was powerful, and I believe the experience of in-the-moment praying will help us all to remember to pray more faithfully for our friends in their struggle.
I know this already: In-person, real-time prayer means more to me than prayer promised (although I’m happy to receive both!). So I want to remember that and do the obvious thing: When a friend shares a God-sized need, I want to pray for that person right then and there. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?
To read an article on this topic, go to http://www.navpress.com/magazines/archives/article.aspx?id=21346.
This is such an important and easy-to-forget thing. And sometimes it's uncomfortable to be the one to suggest it, but when you do, I find that God just shows up so beautifully.
I have a guest staying with me from England, a beautiful woman of faith and grace. I have some personal demons I have to face this weekend, and twice this week she has commented, "I'd love to pray with you before the weekend..." The first time, I said, "yes that would be great!" And then we went about with the day. But this morning, when she said it again, I said, "how about now?" She stopped what she was doing in the kitchen, I left my computer, and we huddled in my living room. What a sweet, timely prayer meeting it was! Both of us, in our pajamas, coffee brewing, busy day ahead, and we had a strengthening, uplifting, encouraging time together. She prayed for me (with tears - such a gift) and I prayed for her as well, and we both thought, "Why don't we do this every day?"
Thanks for the reminder, Cynthia!
Posted by: Christy Tennant( Visit ) at 6/19/2009 2:08 PM
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