Day after day is blessed with helping others carry burdens they can not seem to bear. That is why I like being a pastor. Call me a maven, but I love connecting people with the truth of God. God gets the glory, the person grows in the faith, and I reap joy. It is one of the great perks a pastor gets.
Today I called one of our leaders to discuss a small problem. She herself was in crisis. The checkbook was missing. Her out of town husband could not be reached and she had a list of places to be. The missing checkbook was compounding the obligations of the day. We stopped, prayed, and in about fifteen minutes she e-mailed me to say the checkbook had been found. I love stories like this one. My prayer for her was not just to find the checkbook, but to remember who her guardian is.
I seem to get prayer requests all the time and I diligently try to keep them organized and remembered. Often I will pass out three by five index cards and ask people to share with me their personal requests. This is a great tool because as I pray through the church roll I can be reminded of specific needs.
So, obviously I do pray for a person’s expressed needs. Sometimes however I pray beyond that. What I mean is that often we get fixated on our apparent need, desire, or solution. I pray that our eyes will be opened to God’s greater plan and provision. The person may be praying for one specific thing whereas the answer to their need is completely different. I also pray that God gives a no answer in a clear manner when what is being asked is not His best.
Generally my ongoing prayer for you when I pray is that your eyes be opened to the already present truths of His glory. Also, that when He answers, you will clearly understand and give praise to Him. Too often we pray and then either stop looking for His involvement or we fail to learn and glorify Him.
So, when I pray for you, you can expect these things.
- That as often as I remember I will pray that you see God’s best befall you.
- I pray that God opens your eyes to His present truths in scripture that apply to your situation.
- I pray that you not fail to see His hand in your life.
- I pray that others will know of your experience and that you will take the opportunity to share of His grace.
- I pray your faith grows.
- I pray that trials do not last any longer than necessary for you to learn the lesson at hand.
- I pray that in turn you will be a person of prayer and help others in humility when they need prayer.
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