I am convicted,
And conflicted.
But I will share my heart with you, because I love you - each one - very much.
Today, a question came to my mind, and I posed it to my husband over lunch. “Do we take the time to tell our friends how much we care about them? Do we reach out and let someone else know that they matter to us? And how often do we pray for one another? Really pray? I mean, not just “God bless so and so”, but to cry over our brother and sister’s needs as if they were our own?
And how many of our friends or acquaintances can you tell me something deeply personal or intimate about at the moment…..like a fear they are battling to overcome, or a struggle they are having, or a praise you can celebrate with them? Not just something you “heard” in the grapevine of life, but something they shared with you, because they knew you were trustworthy to share their heart with.”
Really think about that with me for a minute.
No, I mean really think about it.
This week, I asked a few women to pray for some young girls specifically. Not meet with them. Pray for them. Whenever the Holy Spirit prompted them.
And you know what the answers were? Anything from “YES!” to a sad, “I don’t have time to do one more thing.”
Come on.
I asked you to pray.
Jesus asked his disciples to do the same.
And conflicted.
But I will share my heart with you, because I love you - each one - very much.
Today, a question came to my mind, and I posed it to my husband over lunch. “Do we take the time to tell our friends how much we care about them? Do we reach out and let someone else know that they matter to us? And how often do we pray for one another? Really pray? I mean, not just “God bless so and so”, but to cry over our brother and sister’s needs as if they were our own?
And how many of our friends or acquaintances can you tell me something deeply personal or intimate about at the moment…..like a fear they are battling to overcome, or a struggle they are having, or a praise you can celebrate with them? Not just something you “heard” in the grapevine of life, but something they shared with you, because they knew you were trustworthy to share their heart with.”
Really think about that with me for a minute.
No, I mean really think about it.
This week, I asked a few women to pray for some young girls specifically. Not meet with them. Pray for them. Whenever the Holy Spirit prompted them.
And you know what the answers were? Anything from “YES!” to a sad, “I don’t have time to do one more thing.”
Come on.
I asked you to pray.
Jesus asked his disciples to do the same.
On the night of His betrayal.
In a garden, while He agonized and wrestled for His very life.
“Father, if it be Your will, take this cup from me. But nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.”
Jesus went a few feet backwards to find His weary disciples asleep.
Let me ask you.
How many of you have ever wrestled over something all night long, only to hope beyond hope that someone was awake praying with you/for you?
I have. And I have cried out to God to raise up intercessors for me in my own weak state.
“And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.”
Wow. The man who was without almost everything he had come to know and love and have a grip on, gained back nothing until he prayed for his friends.
Let me ask you.
Is it important to you that others pray for you?
Then ought we not take time to really know one another,
So that praying for one another becomes as necessary as our own breathing……
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:12,13)
I’d like to challenge you (and me) to lay something down this week.
Pick up the phone and call that long winded friend.
Get up 30 minutes earlier to jot a note to a brother.
Take your lunch break and pray for the one who enters your mind almost as much as words flow from your mouth.
We need each other.
I have. And I have cried out to God to raise up intercessors for me in my own weak state.
“And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.”
Wow. The man who was without almost everything he had come to know and love and have a grip on, gained back nothing until he prayed for his friends.
Let me ask you.
Is it important to you that others pray for you?
Then ought we not take time to really know one another,
So that praying for one another becomes as necessary as our own breathing……
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:12,13)
I’d like to challenge you (and me) to lay something down this week.
Pick up the phone and call that long winded friend.
Get up 30 minutes earlier to jot a note to a brother.
Take your lunch break and pray for the one who enters your mind almost as much as words flow from your mouth.
We need each other.
Remember.
We are a world at war.
We are a world at war.
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