Episode 359

TODAY’S READING:

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James 5:16

 

I have to admit I have had such a busy week, between traveling for mysister’sslet’sdon’tit’sIt’s” wedding and now I am in Marco Island for a business trip.

 

The reality of taking on a 9-5 again means business trips in the middle of the week. I’m not so upset about this one since I am only an hour away from home, and to be honest; it’s nice seeing the clients I work with in person.

 

To give you quick background, I work for a digital marketing company for plumbing & HVAC contractors. I oversee the Client Relations department. Being able to work again was all God. After my business venture failed, and I surrendered it to God, I not only got my full-time back, but they promoted me to oversee the department. Anyway, here I am in Marco Island, meeting a lot of new people and reconnecting with old faces.

 

I met a man in the lobby today, and he slipped through in conversation that he had a passing in his family last week. I could feel his heaviness. The weight he was carrying in his heart was evident, and at that moment, I could feel my spirit wanting to pray over His. It felt a little out of place to just blurt out the words “may I pray for you,” so I prayed silently.

 

I feel we have a level of responsibility to pray for those around us. It’s what makes us human, and it’s what makes us Christian. Having empathy and knowing that we cannot help, but having the faith that God can is a beautiful trait.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, I was a little busy this week between the wedding and this trip. But I am so overcome with emotion as I read all of the prayer requests in the Facebook group this week. I just want to thank you all for taking this community and running with it. Thank you for praying over one another. Thank you for sharing your prayer requests with strangers. There is something so beautiful about it.

 

Today I encourage you to pray silently, pray over those you come into contact with. You don’t know their stories, but God does, and praying for them, strengthening them in the unseen is a power we have and can give freely. So let’s give it. Cover your leaders in prayer, cover teachers in prayer, cover small businesses in prayer, cover the homeless in prayer, cover the sick in prayer, cover our nurses and doctors and hospital staff from the technician to administration in worship. Pray for strangers. Pray. It changes your perspective, and it enhances this thing called life. 

 

PRAYER

Father God, today we lift all those who do not know us. Lord, we do not know them, but we see them. We see the stranger at the coffee shop; we see the police force or the homeless man. God, we ask that you open our eyes, let us use the gifts of sight and sound and touch to pray over those we come into contact with. We lift those who need it most, and we are grateful for all that we have today. It is in your Holy Name that we pray, AMEN!