first of all, i never pray as much as i want to. i envision myself up at 5:00 on my knees praying for an hour or two, before i get ready for the day. the reality of it is, sometimes i don't get up when my alarm goes off, and then in the middle of my prayer, i realize that i am planning dinner. ugh. i hate that! another thing, is although i have my list of people to pray for, i have found myself praying for the ones that are struggling the most, hurting physically or financially or spiritually. now, obviously that is a good thing to do, but i have been wondering lately why that is.
my pastor (aka "dad") has been doing a sermon series on traps of satan. "see the snare and don't go there." many of his points have been how most of the enemy's traps are subtle. also, it would be more beneficial to trip up someone who is really on-fire for God. someone who is serving, and reaching the lives of many people. so it makes logical sense that satan would be more active in trying to trap a strong christian than he would a weak one. that got me thinking. i need to be spending more of my time praying for the strong christians, who have no "major" needs or problems right now.
do you believe the verse "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (james 5:16) and if you do, what are you doing about it? are you fervently praying. i hope that people are praying for me and adam. sometimes life can get so discouraging. i mean, we don't have any major health issues, major financial burdens, or any sin that we have fallen into. does that mean we need less prayer? i don't think so.
our church family came together last week to fast and pray for a certain family in our church. it was another reminder of how seriously we need to take prayer. the fact that we have DIRECT ACCESS to God is amazing in and of itself! how casually we enter before the King, don't you agree? this is a privilege, and i need to be thinking of it in that way.
my challenge for myself this week, is to spend serious time in prayer for the lives of God's faithful servants. that they won't become weary in well doing. that they would be steadfast and unmovable, and remember that their labor is not in vain! i hope you will do the same. remember, too. the ones you think are doing great...may not be. sometimes people just know how to hide it real well. (i AM a pator's kid after all - we know what that means haha... but that is for another post another time :))but instead of dropping the ones who are hurting, just add to your prayer time some others. i think it is well worth the investment of time.
oh...and just a couple pictures for you of my babies :)
so good. thanks for the challenge! awesome pictures of your babies :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. This post comes at a great time b/c I've had a burden about prayer today. First of all, I needed some prayer today and then I heard about several friends who were facing situations that needed much prayer. I just have felt burdened about how MUCH there is to pray about. We could pray 24/7. But we probably pray more like 7 minutes. ha! Your point about not just focusing on those with obvious needs is a good one. Thanks.
ReplyDeletelove today's post!
ReplyDeletethanks for such words of wisdom.
stacy
GREAT thoughts!
ReplyDeleteYes ... satan goes after the ones who are doing the Lord's work. Since stepping into full-time ministry last summer, or family has been hit HARD by attacks from the enemy. But, we will not waiver in our work for the Lord.
Good reminder to pray for those that seem to be "doing well", so that they do NOT get hit by the attacks. Pray for protection BEFORE the attacks. Yes!
Laurel