January 28, 2013

Do You Ask for Prayer?

"Pray without ceasing," the Lord tells me.  I wish I could say that I never stop praying, but I do.
I look away from Jesus and look at the storms around me. I look at the people I admire rather than The Lord within them. I say "I am fine" rather than saying I need prayer.

When my son was having major surgery, I was asking anyone who drew breath to pray for him. There were times that I asked for hundreds of people to pray. I even stumbled upon a church that would pray for any request for 24 continuous hours. I never hesitated saying we needed prayer.

So why is it so hard to ask for prayer for myself? I guess it's pride. My flesh wants to present itself as being all together, when it is not. Just yesterday I went through minor surgery. Did I ask for prayer? Yes, but I found myself struggling to get the word out. I did not ask with the same urgency as I would  have asked if it was for someone else. What am I trying to say? I am weak. But even in this weakness, I know I need prayer.

I should bring all of my requests to The Lord myself, yet there is power in united prayer. There is something amazing that happens when a group of God's children are asking the same question at the same time. We should not hesitate to ask others to join us in prayer when life gets hard.

I have a small group of friends that I can call or Facebook at anytime day or night and ask for prayer. The incredible truth is that they will actually pray. It's like that old Steven Curtis Chapman song, Let Us Pray. They will actually join my voice and ask The Lord to intervene on my behalf.
They do not gossip, or judge, they just pray.

So why is it so award to ask for prayer? The enemy of our souls knows there is power in united prayer, so he makes us hesitate. He gets us to think people will judge us by our challenges. He leads us to believe that we can handle this difficulty on our own. He uses our own hands to cut our security lines. He isolates us and convinces that no one else knows deals with "this challenge". He lies and manipulates us.

Break free.

Find one friend at a time that loves Jesus and spends time in prayer daily. Begin praying for them every single time they come to your mind. Ask them how you can pray for them, then pray. Seek The Lord on their behalf. Share Bible verses and songs that speak to your heart about their situation. Now you are ready. The next time you are in the middle of a storm, bodily ask for prayer.

Do you ask for prayer? If not, begin asking today.

Do you need prayer? Leave me a comment, email me, or Facebook me and I will pray for you.


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