Erin wrote New Hope for Christmas which was spotlighted on Dec 7th. Today she has a guest post.
Hi. My name is Erin and I’m a prayer warrior.
I love to pray. I’ve always loved to pray, since I met
Jesus at the age of 15 and asked him into my heart. I guess I love to pray
because it’s just talking with my Best Friend, Jesus. So I always look for
opportunities to pray for and with people.
But for a long time, I struggled with
prayer, because I didn’t understand it. Let me share two things that hampered
my prayer life:
1)
Someone asks me on Monday to pray
for their husband’s surgery on Thursday. I send up a ‘pre-prayer’ then, but
when the hour of his surgery rolls around on Thursday…I’m busy with something
else, or maybe I just forget. And when he doesn’t come through surgery well, I
wonder if it was because of my neglect.
2)
I see a request on social media to
pray for a child who is in critical condition. Hundreds are praying, thousands!
But the child doesn’t survive. I prayed for him often. Did I not pray enough? But if I pray more and someone still dies, and my prayers
couldn’t change the outcome, then WHY SHOULD I PRAY?
Entire books have been written about prayer,
and I could write a VERY long blog on this, but I’ll just tell you one lesson
that I learned when I asked God to help me figure this out. Regardless of the
outcome of a situation I’ve prayed for, my prayers are a comfort to the one who
I’m praying for and/or the one who requested the prayer and assure them that they are not alone. I’ve been on the
flip side when I’ve needed prayer. No matter the outcome, I am blessed and encouraged
just by knowing that someone is on their knees in the valley with me.
Even in a pandemic, I can still connect with
people by praying for them. A while back I posted on my social media, “Raise
your hand if I can pray for you today.” I made it clear that I didn’t want or
need to know any details, I just wanted to pray. Over a hundred people
responded! Many said they were so blessed by this. Believe me, I got the blessing!
I invite you to do what I often do, ask God,
“who needs my prayers today?” You will be amazed at the names He will bring to
your mind, and if you let that person know (sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t),
you will be amazed at their response!
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in
all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I Thes. 5:16-18
Comments
Thank You.
PamT