As Per Requested....

Okay so its not a "column" per se...but you wanted me to write so.... here you go:
[Jeez...take what you get and be grateful. Someday I'll be famous and you can say you knew me when I was merely just an innocent blogger, putting her meager thoughts in a paragraph or two and whisking it off into cyberspace. :) ]

I'm not sure what to write at this moment but I'll give it a shot. Today I had a wonderful conversation with a dear friend of mine. As to the full nature of said conversation, well that will remain a mystery...but I can share one particular thought in which we were discussing. That was the nature of love as it pertains to the body of Christ and our prayers.I had shared that had been praying for her and she thanked me for doing so. Then she went on to say that she knew I was always going to be one of the people she knew she could call to pray for her and that I would actually do it and continue to do so...or something to that effect.

What a compliment....I was very flattered but then it hit me. Isn't that how its always supposed to be? Shouldn't we be daily wreaking havoc on the gates of heaven on each others behalf? What else are we meant for?

In today's devotional for Our Daily Bread, writer David C. McCasland actually addressed this very topic today. He wrote:

"Missionary Frank Laubach described his habit of “shooting” prayers at people as he encountered them during the course of each day. In a sense, he was “texting” God on their behalf, staying in constant communication with the Father. Laubach believed that prayer is the mightiest force in the world, and said: “My part is to live in this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to His will.”


"Continuous conversation with God"....how wonderful. He references this scripture in his writing as well:

" We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit.......
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light"
(Colossians 1:3 -12 NKJV)

Praying for others is mentioned often through the scriptures.I believe that this is the very definition of love...putting such value in the lives of others that you are willing to charge the doors of heaven with your battering ram of prayer to see the Father's will carried out in their lives....that you are desperate to know the heart of God concerning them....that you ling to see God encounter them with his love and bless them abundantly and you cannot rest until its done. And are we not called to love our brother as ourselves? When there is any issue that concerns us, we rush to God to know His heart about it. We'll fast for weeks if we have to to get an answer. We'll throw everything we've got into contending for our own gain. But what if we stopped...took just a moment....put our brother's and sister's needs ahead of our own?

Don't get me wrong...by all means, pray as you feel led. But don't forget your fellow man. If someone asks you to pray for them....do it...right then and there...don't wait....you and I both know you'll forget. And when you have your quiet time with the Lord, take just a moment..ask the Lord who's on His heart...ask Him how to pray for them and do it. I promise...it's life changing for all involved.

Hey...if its good enough for Paul,Tim and Phil... its good enough for me.

mandy