I just love the title Scripture for today! The words paint a beautiful visual of someone who is weak and struggling, a little bent over, shuffling along and then one by one others come along side and grab hold of the struggling one and they support them with their strength, the ones that go behind the weak one protect them from attack, and the ones in front remove obstacles from their path. Each one is a prayer prayed for the one in need.
I don't know anyone who cannot identify with the weak and struggling one at some point in their life and blessed is the one who knows Jesus as Lord and is a member of a Bible believing church, for they will have many who will join in their struggle by coming along side them and join them in their struggles through their prayers to God for them!
My Mother was what is known in Christian circles as a prayer warrior and she without even being aware of it taught me many life applications. For instance, we lived in different states and spoke on average once a week, yet without fail if I was going through difficulties, Mom would call and tell me that God woke her up in the night to pray for me! Many times I would respond that everything was alright even if it wasn't because I didn't feel like talking about it. She never pressed but we both knew that she knew that the Lord was never wrong, His timing is always precise, so she faithfully continued to pray for me. It was the same way with my brother and later with her grandchildren. This side of heaven I will never know how much her prayers influenced and intervened in all of her prayers on behalf of our family. I thank God for her faithful prayers. And I thank God for His watch care over me and my family!
I was blessed to be with her during the last two and half years of her life and I learned so much from her; if someone asks you to pray for them, don't just say, I will, pray for them right then, no matter where you are or what you are doing! This life application is infectious, the people that you pray for with them, many of them are now doing the same for others. Many times we can forget to pray for someone, certainly not intentionally it just happens. So pray right then with them it will surprise many and bless everyone, including you!
On several occasions over the past ten years I have asked the Lord to teach me to pray. And I can tell you right now that I am still very much a work in progress, I have so much yet to learn. Yet, I want to share some things that are such blessings in my life regarding prayer. First and foremost God helped me to hear His voice and trust in His voice and obey His voice then and there.
Let me give you an example; one time a believer named Theresa and I were studying the Word in my home and I heard God's voice in my mind (never have I heard God's voice audibly) and I knew I was supposed to stop right then and call the person He told me. I shared with Theresa and she began to pray for this person that we both knew while I called her. When she answered she was crying, she suffers with a disease that causes extreme pain and it was so bad right then she said she just cried out to God, if You are there, if You love me at all, help me now! And the second the words left her mouth she heard the phone ring and Theresa and I lifted her up in prayer over the phone and God of course heard and answered our prayer (the prayer that He had orchestrated)and touched her and the pain left immediately and completely!!
God blessed all three of us that day, He built the ladies faith that cried out to Him, by showing her how much He loved her, and was intimately involved in her life. He reinforced the truth of His Word that says "My sheep follow Me because they know My voice." John 10:4 and that truth was burned into me that day. Theresa was blessed by having her intercession for the lady answered in such a glorious way! Faith increased and praise and glory to God was proclaimed all around!
"I love the LORD, because He hears my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2 NASB.
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