“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16)Public Domain
Today I had a ''friend'' send me a few text messages shortly after we had quickly exchanged some niceties in a local store. I put " " around the word friend because we do not often talk and when we do, it is mostly about trivial things such as the weather... we are that sort of "friend."
Her texts surprised me. Not because she sent them; no, we often will say "Hi, hope all is going well with you and yours." I don't really think that either of us expect the other to say, "You know, life has actually been pretty bad. Let me tell you..." But today that is exactly what I got.
Her texts did not go into extreme detail but what they did say made me read them twice. I won't write here what she said; that would be a breach of trust. Suffice it to say that she needs prayer. Lots of prayer.
My dear hubby came home from work today to my mind racing after my "friend" (okay, I will stop putting " " around the word now!) sent her texts. Thankfully he was sweet enough to stop what he was doing to have a chat with me. We both know this lady and her family, my husband through his work first and secondly through our church. I confide everything in my husband..if I couldn't I'd be a sorry mess!
He listened as I told him what the textersation (heehee a word for text conversation, nifty huh?) consisted of and the things it made me think. One sentence that he said has stayed with me, both in the front of my mind and just on the edge of being pushed aside. He said that he prays for this family all the time. That is what has been in my mind all night.
I am up late tonight with heartburn and the need to work on school, yet of course I find time to sneak a peek at my blog dashboard to see what others have been up to today. I recently (just yesterday I believe) included a scripture of the day at the top of my blog. I read a bit of my Bible every single day but thought that would be another good way to read it some more, even if just one scripture. And then, as I looked at my blog, there it was:
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16)God spoke to me then. I don't pray enough! I was concerned for my friend; concerned for her faith, her family, her well-being, etc, and wondering what to do. And when I saw that scripture it was like, wow, He is really paying attention to me (and my friend) and knows that we need to pray for His help. He is really and truly here to take care of us. It is something I should not allow myself to forget.
I will admit shamefully that I do not pray enough. I wonder how many others do not either; how many people simply think that they, on their own, can make things right?
Please pray for my friend, with the decisions she will make and with her faith. God knows what she needs.
How wonderful that God has given you a heart of compassion for your friend. You're so right....one of the greatest gifts you can give her is to truly and faithfully pray for her. What a wonderful privilege you have to be an encouragement to her.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I too don't pray enough. At one time every thought was directed toward Jehovah God. When I would be outside I would see something pretty, unusual, or it would just remind me that it was God's creation. I would thank him for it and my thoughts were directed at him. Even when I would think of someone else, it was always with a underlying feeling for Jehovah. He was the center of my whole being. And of course I said formal prayers like at night and at mealtimes, but I still remember so vividly the zeal I felt for God Almighty. But, as time went on I lost that zeal. However, I have been very actively working on getting it back... I love Jehovah with all my heart and I am trying hard to make him the center of my universe once more... The bible is how God talks to us today and tells us things. He answers prays too, but we have to be paying attention to when they have been answered and recognize it for what it is. Sometimes it is just a verse from the bible as you just discovered.
ReplyDeleteI don't hardly pray at all! I guess I really need to more often....
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