Prayer - Are You Doing it "Right?"

Just pour out your heart to God.

I've been thinking a lot about prayer these days. Being the Prayer Team Coordinator for our church means all prayer requests that come into the church and channeled to me, then sent out to our Prayer Team.  Some of these requests are heartbreaking and when there are many of those during the week, it can get you down if you don't anchor your faith in a God who loves each one of those people deeply, a God who knows what is the very best for each person in each situation, A God who understands each heart.

So, a while back, I started to feel like as I prayed for each request it seemed like I was giving God orders - God, heal this person, God restore this marriage, God save this woman's son, God break this man's addiction, God protect this man in prison...

One day the thought occurred to me that since God knows the intimate details of each person and their circumstances, that it might be better to ask God to step into their situation and do what if the very best thing for all involved and to help each person lean heavily on him during their trials.

Then today I read an short synopsis for a book on prayer. It started like this...\

"Are your prayers being answered? Do you even know what to pray? Deep down inside, do you feel that prayer is too passive to really accomplish much?"

I have to tell you, these three questions bug me. It seems to infer that unless you pray the correct way or unless you pray passionately, God won't bother to answer. Or if it seems that your prayers aren't being answered, it's your fault for not praying right. That rankles me to no end!

Friend, one of the most loving things we can do is lift a hurting person to God in prayer. We don't have use the perfect words or quote the appropriate scriptures back to God before he will pay attention to our prayers. We don't have to work ourselves up into a frenzy before he responds. All we have to do is open our hearts and let our love for others pour out to him. Sometime, we don't know exactly what to pray because a trial in someone's life may be what it takes to draw someone closer to God or to transform their character to be more like Christ. Not that God brings calamity on us just to teach us a lesson. He doesn't. Life will do that for us all by itself because we live in a broken world and when it does, God sees and works to turn a bad situation around so that good will come out of it.

So, go ahead and pray for those you love, those you don't like, those you don't even know when you see someone hurting. Don't worry about saying the right words or having the right posture, just open your heart and ask God to work his perfect will in their lives. That's better than anything else you could possibly do.

So, what do you think? Does prayer intimidate you? Have you been frustrated with your prayer life?

Remember, prayer is just an open conversation between you and your Father God.
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Fear crept up and jumped on my head!

A simple trip to the doctor to see why I was experiencing hearing loss turned into a biopsy of a suspicious spot on my nose, with positive results for basal cell carcinoma, a consult with a Mohs surgeon and a plastic surgeon and an upcoming surgery to remove the cancer.

The worst part? I learned that I have to be awake for the surgery that will take several hours to perform, followed by another surgery to close the wound with a skin flap.  The more I thought about it, the more apprehensive I became. How much of my nose would they have to take? How bad would it hurt? How long would it take to heal? How bad will I look afterward?  As I mulled things over and insidious spirit of fear slithered it's way into my mind and took over. I was afraid - really afraid!

I thought if I Googled Mohs surgery it might give me a better understanding of the surgical process and calm my fears. WRONG!  

Before I could even find the facts, I was inundated with frightening pictures of noses post surgery. Big gaping wounds, disfiguring faces bruised and stitched. Horrible pictures that scared the wits out of me. I turned off the computer, jumped in bed and pulled the covers over my head. I spent the night in fits of sleep, interspersed with scary images, imaginings and unsettling dreams. I prayed, but peace didn't come.

The next day was worse. Fear had a strangle-hold on me.  I recalled this verse....

 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3

I repeated it over and over, declaring my trust in the Lord. He'd never let me down in the past and I knew he wouldn't let me down this time, but...

fear wouldn't give up that easily. 

So, I initiated my secret weapon. I contacted prayer warriors around the country. Friends and family who love me and know how to hit their knees in intercession and spiritual warfare, because I believe in the power of prayer and the loving counsel of godly people.

The fear lifted. I said... 

THE FEAR LIFTED!

That just makes me want to sing and shout! God is awesome and His people are kind, supportive and caring.

How do people go through these kinds of things without God and Christian brothers & sisters?

I still have to face the surgery in several weeks, but now I have peace. I'm sure fear will try to weasel his way in again, but I'm on guard, now and I know just what to do.

Joshua 1:9 says...

"Yes, be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Today, I met 3 of my friends for our weekly coffee, chat and blogging session. One of them, Joy, walked in and sang a little ditty she'd made up...

God will never forsake you. He'll never ever leave you.
No, never,  no, never, never never, no, never no, never, never, never, never, never, NO!

So, there, Fear - take that!

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UPDATE: It's been a year since I had surgery. The doctor was amazed that the spot of basal cell carcinoma was very small. He said he had been sure that it would be a large area of my nose. The removal took about 10 minutes.  A couple of days later, I went for the closing surgery. They didn't have to do a flap, just a smaller skin graft.  Today, the scars are relatively small. They look big to me, but others say they don't even notice them. 

Bottom line: God is good and prayer works!
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What if You're the One?

I was listening to KFLR (Family Life Radio) this morning in my car when I heard...

"What if you are the person that God has appointed to stand in the gap for someone you will come in contact with today?"

Years ago I was waiting at a red light. A young man crossed the street in front of me. He was dressed entirely in black. Black shoes, black pants, black t-shirt and a black trench coat that flapped in the wind. He had jet black hair that stood straight up in a mohawk and multiple piercings. His face was pale, his eyes blackened with makeup and his countenance was menacing, yet sad.

The wind blew his trench coat open again and I saw these words written in white across the front of his t-shirt, "I am the Devil."

My heart broke. This young man was once an innocent baby boy with all the promise in the world ahead of him. He was fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-16) in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27) The Creator had a definite plan for his life (Jeremiah 29:11 and I'm pretty sure this wasn't it.

When God formed this boy inside his mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:5), his life was full of promise...what happened?

I snapped up the opportunity to pray for that young man as he crossed the street and to continue praying for him as I drove toward my destination. In fact, God has brought him back to mind many times over the years and I have prayed for him again.

Ezekiel 22:23-31 recounts the story of ancient Israel, who had strayed far from following God. The nation was overrun with sin. The prophet Ezekiel was sent to warn the nation of the impending judgement of God and the destruction of the nation. God looked for someone to "stand in the gap before me...that I should not destroy it", but He found no one.

There are several incidents in the Word where God was willing to spare people if only there was someone praying, someone willing to beseech God for mercy for others.

I wonder, how many lives are turned over to their own destruction because there is no one praying for them? No one to plead for mercy. No one who cared enough to ask God to move on their behalf to bring them back to Him, to spare their lives and turn them around.

Which leads me back to the question...

"What if you are the person that God has appointed to stand in the gap for someone you will come in contact with today?"


Keep your eyes open today. God may bring someone across your path that desperately needs prayer.

If you feel God prompting you to pray for someone today, I would love to hear your story . Share it with us in a comment.

God bless and guess what - God has prompted me to pray for anyone who may stumble across this blog post, so I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!

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