A few months ago, I became a part of
the prayer chain at our Church. This morning I began reading one of the prayer
requests and her accompanying prayer that she had written for each of us to
pray and join in agreement. She and her
husband have been the main building blocks in the creation and maintenance of
what has become a very robust and vibrant prayer ministry. They have taken part as prayer warriors, not
just for months, but for years. As I
read her prayer, I could only thank God for the inspiration that both hers and
her husband’s prayers have been to me.
As
I began writing this morning, my intention was to write a brief paragraph
expressing my thanks for the encouragement I have often received just in the
reading of the prayers of others.
However, before I knew it, the ‘paragraph’ had blossomed and grown into
far more. Being a part of our prayer chain, even though it has been but a short
blip in time for me, has served to awaken my heart to the importance of our
commitment in this arm of service unto our Lord. I have not had the
pleasure of even meeting many of the persons involved, but meeting each of them
through our prayer ministry has been a blessing that has been used as a love
letter from The Lord to instill within my heart the truth of His word when He
promised, “where two or three gather in my name, He there I am with them.”(Matt. 18:20) We may not be
'together' face to face, but more importantly and far more powerfully, we are
'together' in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Some time ago, our pastor came to visit me while I was in the
hospital. The conversation brought up a mention of the increased problems
being faced by the person who was the main core and supporter for the prayer
chain. As her own family needs had
presently become more intensive and demanding, she was finding it harder to
devote as much time as was needed. I got
the impression that she might be concerned for the continuation of a robust and
vibrant intercessory prayer ministry within our church which, as I have
learned, is not limited to the confines of our own church, but is often opened
to requests from those in the world at large.
She and others had been praying that the Lord would move others to take
up the slack and relieve her of having to carry so much of the load. At the time, you would not believe the load
she was already carrying as caregiver of several members of her family. Before our pastor left, we joined in
prayer. After returning home from the
hospital, I was further encouraged through my sister, and the gentle nudging of
the Holy Spirit to, slowly but surely, begin to take part in the prayer chain
ministry.
Whether The Lord returns tomorrow or many years from now, the
urgency of The Lord's call upon His people to awake from our slumber and the
disease of apathy is shouting out like the ringing of an alarm. Each of us needs to hear and respond with
action so that we can be His true body that is meant to be the salt of the
earth, being doers of the word and not just hearers. Too often we are lulled into thinking that prayer
is something that is best left in the more capable hands of others, as if it
required some kind of deeper understanding or preparation. God never told us that we had to go to school
for further training in the art of praying before we were to indulge and take
part in the action and practice of it.
He has simply instructed us to pray and pray ‘without ceasing.’ He has even told us when we don’t know how or
what to pray the Holy Spirit does, and He will help us. (Rom. 8: 26 ) What
more could we ask? There is no more
value in a prayer that has a bunch of big words and platitudes in it than there
is in a simple cry of our hearts unto the Lord saying, “Jesus, help me!” It’s not our words that matter, but the
action of calling upon the name of the Lord to seek his face in all that we do.
(Jer. 33:
3)
When I first started taking part in this ministry, I quickly
became aware of the challenges that it can bring into one's life. One of the
first characteristics that I became acquainted with was how overwhelming it can
be at times to be given the knowledge of the many needs of others. I can
see how the devil can try to discourage you and me from getting involved in the
prayer ministry. He will whisper his deceiving words and lies to try to
stop us before we have hardly even begun: "This is too depressing. Forget
about this! Haven't you got enough problems of your own to handle? After
all, you're only one person and what can you do to fix things, or really help
any one of them? Besides that, it just takes
too much time and energy." If we
let him, he has a whole litany of lies prepared to throw at us to try to hinder
our service, not only to one another, but even more to restrict our service to
the Lord. At one point, upon receiving
words of thanks for my participation and expressions of appreciation for the
‘beauty’ of my prayers, I didn’t know how to receive or respond to these
complimentary words. I really ‘felt’ and
‘heard’ the accuser, we know who he is, say, “Uh huh, see there, you’re doing
this to draw attention to yourself.” I
began to feel ashamed and even questioned my motives. I was reluctant to give
my name as the writer, as I was afraid of giving an “appearance of evil.” I took my concerns to my sister who is always
a great encourager. Thank God for the
continual help and support of my own family members throughout the years of my
life. The Lord used her to straighten
out my ‘stinking thinking.’ She showed
me how this fear was being used by the devil to try to silence my prayers and
service to the Lord. She pointed out to
me that we are each given gifts, and the Lord expects us to use them for His
glory. To hide, and not use them, is to
be like the servant that buried that which his master had given him; therefore,
upon his master’s return, the servant had only to give back that which
originally belonged to his master and no more. (Matt 25: 14- 30) True, we are not to be boastful of the gifts
that God has given us, as if they were of our own making. But not using them in the service of the Lord
is equivalent to quenching the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit which is
meant to be manifested to the glory of God in our lives. We have to remember
that “Satan is as a roaring lion, roaming too and fro, seeking whom he may
devour.”(I
Peter 5:8) If he can stop and silence any one of us, he
has succeeded in robbing from the body of Christ; thus, we have enabled him to
do so by listening to his lies instead of listening to and following the voice
of the Lord.
Isn’t it ironic that we won’t take our
cares to the Lord sometimes because we may think we shouldn’t bother God with
our “petty little problems?” Large or
small, God loves us and wants to be involved in every part of our lives. Would we hide something from our spouse? Of course not; therefore, there is all the
more reason to open our hearts in full disclosure to our Lord who has loved us
first. In addition, some people are
timid about praying because they feel they don’t know how to pray as
‘eloquently’ as someone else. You know
that is just another ploy of the devil.
Comparing our abilities to someone else’s is not what God has
intended. Think of all the singers in
the world and how their numbers and diversities of talents would be reduced if
they all held back in sharing their talent with us just because someone else
might sing better. I can think of some
who sing with great technical abilities, but it never touched my soul because
their music was without feeling and heart.
There was a lady in our church years ago, that did not have what may be
called ‘a great voice.’ But every time
she sang, the Spirit of the Lord moved to change the hearts of many who
listened.
Satan may try to tell you that this
job is just too depressing or too wearisome; however, if we remember that we
are to do all things as unto the Lord,(Coll. 3: 17, 23) the joy of the Lord will rise up within
your spirit, overcoming the would be depression and lies of the devil,
replacing them with “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”(Isaiah 61: 3) One's heart is stirred to want to rise up and
take flight, being clothed with the righteousness of the Lord, and equipped for
the battle at hand with the full armor of the Lord. We may view ourselves as only one voice,
inept and unprepared for the job. But
wait, should we not remind ourselves that God has promised that in our weakness
He is made strong? When it came to
defeating Goliath, did He choose the biggest and the strongest to go into
battle against him? No, He sent little David, armed with nothing but a sling
shot and five little pebbles, or at least that is what it would have looked
like to Goliath, who was laughing incredulously I’m sure as he saw this puny
looking young kid coming out to do battle with him. But David knew he had something far greater
than size, armor, numbers, weapons, strength or dependence upon any of those
visible things. He knew, without a
doubt, that he was fully prepared as he went forth armed in and protected by
the name of the One True God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; through whom he had
the victory by faith before it was ever manifested to the vision of the
witnesses at hand. (I Sam. Ch 17) When our hearts are moved with compassion for what others are
going through, let us remember that we may appear to the adversary as though we
too are only ‘puny little Davids,’ but God has said, “Greater is He who is in
you than he who is in the world.”(I John 4: 4) Often, no matter what our own personal
problems and frailties may be, they seem to fade from sight when we are willing
to take our eyes off of ourselves, and place our focus on Jesus and His desires
of what He wants to do in and through us.
We need to remember that we are His vessels, His instruments. Let us not be intimidated, manipulated, or
conformed by the powers this world; let us be transformed into the image of
God, having the mind of Christ, “by the washing of the water of the word.”(Romans 12: 1, 2) He has designed each of us for a purpose, “to
do that which is pleasing in His sight,”(Philip. 2:13) submitting our will, to do the will of
the Lord. All He requires of us is a
repentant heart that is willing to say, “Here am I Lord, use me.”(Psalm 51:17)
Sometimes, when reading some of our
prayer requests, I remember thinking, how in the world is this person, family,
etc. getting through any of this? In the frailty of my own humanity, I
find myself feeling like ‘this is impossible.
All I can do is pray.’ We often
think of prayer in terms of being ‘only prayer,’ as if it were a last resort
thing to do after we have done all else.
In fact, we have been taught by the word that we should seek the face of
the Lord first bringing all our cares to Him in prayer. (Philip. 4:6) Somehow, somewhere along the way, we have
been deceived into thinking that prayer is a miniscule thing of little
significance in the battle against the powers and principalities of the
darkness of this world. We have
forgotten that the first purpose of prayer is to give praise, glory and honor
to the Lord. We have forgotten how Jesus
went out away from the crowds and spent much time in prayer, not only to take
His cares unto His Father, but to listen to the voice of His Father that He might
always be about doing the work of His Father in Heaven. We have forgotten that when the Israelites
went out to war, the praise and prayer warriors were sent out ahead, giving God
the glory, proclaiming victory in the power of the One True God, knowing that
the battle and the victory were in the hands of the Lord. “Not by might, not by power, but by MY
SPIRIT, says the Lord.”(Zech. 4:6) Yes, the battle is the
Lord’s, but aren’t we meant to be active members in the army of the Lord? We have but to look at the ever increasing
lawlessness and godlessness of the world around us to know that Satan is not
dormant. Knowing that he is out and
active in full force, shouldn’t we be all the more diligent to “pray without
ceasing,”(I
Thess. 5: 16-18) following Jesus as He is “seated at the right hand of God the
Father Almighty,” ever interceding for you and I?(Rom. 8: 34)
When I begin to feel downhearted, out
of compassion for what others are going through, my first reaction may be, “O
Lord, how are they ever going to make it through this?” And then the Lord reminds me yet once again
in the power of His word- "By the grace of God; His grace IS
sufficient."(II Cor. 12: 9) “For the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ;”(II Cor. 10: 4) In unity
of the power of the Holy Spirit who continues to do that good work in us till
we meet our Lord face to face in Gloryland,(I Philip. 1: 6) let us rise up in His strength to be
active members, with fellow believers, in the army of the Lord. Let us encourage one another and ever
proclaim the wondrous saving power found only in God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. “Let God arise and His enemies
be scattered!”(Psalm 68: 1) Blessings and the
Peace of the Lord be with you and in you in Jesus name, Amen!!
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