Thursday, June 21, 2012

Are you "called" to pray?

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (New International Version 1984) - Ephesians 6:18
Photo courtesy jdeboer,
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I head up the prayer ministry at our church, receiving requests over the internet, the phone and via our communication cards. I then type up the requests and send them out by email to all the members of our prayer team.
Often folks will slip up beside me in church and ask me to add or a loved one to our prayer list.

I assure them that we would love to pray for their needs and sometimes I ask, "Would you like to join our prayer team and pray for the needs of others?"

I would like to say that their answer is "yes" every time, but sometimes I get this...

"Oh, I don't have time to pray for others."

"Um...I'll pray about it and let you know."

"Well...I don't really feel called to that ministry."


What??????

I'm sorry, but God is not going to issue a special "calling" to pray for the needs of our fellow believers. Well, let me take that back...God has all ready issued a specal calling to pray for the needs of fellow believers...and the lost...and those in authority...and for His kingdom to be come and for His will to be done - and His will is that we pray for one another.

With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints!

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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Speaking of... I just signed up for this: http://pray4you.com/ I can't wait to get started. I might not have a lot of time during the day, but I can always pray. I don't think you have to stop everything, bow and do a lenghthy prayer all the time. I think that he is always with us... listening.

Jan Christiansen said...

I agree completely, Kelly. Prayer should be an on-going conversation with our Heavenly Father. It should weave it's way throughout our day and our activities as natural as breathing. ~Jan