Lean Times - Leaning Times

It starts with Me

It is a fearsome responsibility to lay ourselves on the line for someone else. The place where intercessory prayer starts, is with us. God wants us to step out and pray for others, to stand in the gap. When my own situation is desperate, how can I step out in faith and stick my neck out? God tells us that our own personal prayers are not just for our own benefit. If God is really working in us, we will have no hesitation in stepping out and doing what God expects us to do for our loved ones or even for our neighbors, whoever they are. We will just have to bear it and carry on with our stubborn and persistent prayers. God sees all this and blesses us for it.

When we pray out loud to God, the devil and his followers tremble and flee from the place. How can the great liar stand there and listen to us storm heaven for ourselves and others? When we pray aloud, it helps us focus our thoughts and there is a definite purpose in our lives at that moment. Sometimes it is argued that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for praying out loud, so why should we? There is a big difference. In Matthew 6:5, Jesus says, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full." Again, Jesus is not condemning the fact that people prayed aloud, but that they were putting on a public display for their own benefit. Their motive was the problem. Such prayer is empty words meant for the ears of other people (Hebrews 10:22). So, it is evident that there is nothing wrong with praying out loud, but it should never be done to impress those around you. All our prayers should be with humility and they should be Christ centered. At times I am stuck for words and hesitant when asked to pray in front of a gathering. I try to close my eyes and speak to the Father on a one on one act of love. I can only rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and the Lord gives me confidence and the words start flowing.

Praying for Others

Who needs me O Lord, my help today?

Who needs my prayers, for whom do I pray?

I have your blessings, bright sun today

Can I send them your rainbow as for them I pray?

Through my prayers, please touch them Lord

Let then learn to lean on You, their God.

Give them hope, perhaps a smile?

For strength to walk another mile.

Through your help, their belief or not

Faith, hope and love and all that I got;

Whether your love or wisdom, had they sought

With thy same love, they will better their lot.

There is no one we lean, but on you my Lord

You are our savior, our king, and our God.

So use me or Lord to hold their hands

Though they be close or in distant lands.

What is your plan for our life today?

What is your will? Will you teach us your way?

Let us plead that on our path we do not falter

Wherever we are, or as we kneel by your altar.

Rayol J Augustus

Visited by the Muse14 November 2017

I value Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Intercessory Prayer. He wrote, “A Christian community either lives by the intercessory prayers of its members for one another, or the community will be destroyed. I can no longer condemn or hate other Christians for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble they cause me. In intercessory prayer the face that may have been strange and intolerable to me is transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died, the face of a pardoned sinner. That is a blessed discovery for the Christian who is beginning to offer intercessory prayer for others. As far as we are concerned, there is no dislike, no personal tension, no disunity, or strife that cannot be overcome by intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the community must enter every day.”

We can pray for others and plead with God on their behalf. Anyone can pray for others and it can have a telling effect on everyone concerned. When I hear my mother tell me how she prays and for all the people on her ‘to pray for list’, it leaves me speechless at times. I can understand why she prays for Tom and Dick, but why on earth would she want to pray for Harry? It gives her great satisfaction and now I understand. There are some who have the gift of prayers of intercession as they seem to know the needs of others, and take them before God even when those other people are not that keen on coming to know God. Sometimes we feel the burden for that person and so we should pray for them. We ought to pray till we get the results we want for that person. That is what God loves. It is like rain dancers who dance till it rains!

We pray for world, national, and local political leaders. We pray that God may protect them and give them wisdom to govern and administer well in everything they do. If they are not what is good for the people or the country, we pray that the Holy Spirit would lead them or change them. Our prayers for others, is to ask God to build people into what God wants of them, not to tear them down. The Holy Spirit is always with us and praying with us. So, we never pray alone. Does God always answer our prayers for someone else? Perhaps not always. We might be praying to lift a burden from someone, but the Lord might be using the burden to prepare them to do something for God. On the other hand, our prayers might be what God wants to happen in that person’s life. We just pray to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and pray that God's will be done. I am always ready and open to pray for anyone with all my abilities and with all I got, if that is what it takes, and God wants me to do it.