Send Some Up For Me
When someone finds out I am a preacher they often say “Send some prayers up for me!” Prayer is an amazing thing that Christians often neglect. Sometimes I think people say “Pray for me” and it is more of a cliche than a reality for them. As believers should we ask someone to pray for us if we don’t even take the time to pray for ourselves? I hear so many Christians make prayer out to be drudgery. The other day I asked my seven year old son Jonah to pray and he exclaimed, “ahhh” with disappointment. I immediately went into development mode and explained to him how much of a privilege prayer is. Thankfully, he embraced the moment and offered an enthusiastic and passionate prayer to the Lord. Have you ever thought about what happens to our prayers when we pray? John the Apostle tells us and it is pure motivation to develop the discipline of prayer.
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:3-5).
The only kind of prayer that is real praying is prayer that gets answers! In this scene John witness the prayer of saints rising up up to God like incense. God is so pleased with the sweet, savory, fragrant offering of genuine prayer that He commands an angel to mix the prayer with His power and hurl it back upon the earth. The thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and earthquake, are symbolic imagery used to describe God’s power. Real prayer moves the heart of God and brings power to the planet. Are you sure you can’t find time to pray? If you can, send some up for me!
It’s Living Worship. All I do is pray. Breathing, working, playing, all these are our gifts. Common purpose and corporate intent and prayer is our collective prayer. I pray without ceasing by Living Worship.
Of course I’ll send some for you! I think it is important to keep our leaders, pastors and our nation prayed up..I find myself praying throughout the day during my daily tasks…kinda like visiting with God all day….I am full of joy when I see works happen after heavy praying. You see I have prayed for quite awhile for God to open doors for Kris to provide him opportunities to move up in the company he works for. I have prayed that he could be in church everytime we go…that we’d go as a family. I prayed for his heart to be content with life and the blessings we have at the moment, knowing God will shower us with more if we ask. Now, Kris is the new Supervisor over maintance in Odessa, Texas. So much is happening and I am feeling a spiritual growth through it all. I have always been a visual prayer. ( Seeing my prayers physically at the Lords feet, or his hands embracing a friend in need. Even an illness leaving ones body with every exhale and Gods love and mercy entering with the inhale. Praying is good, I could not imagine having a friend that you don’t speak to.
A question was asked a while back, “When I’m driving in the car, is it ok to talk to God like he’s my buddy sitting next to me?” My response was, “Sure! He IS your buddy.” I think people have a hard time balancing honor & respect for God while having a close relationship with Him. Maybe it’s because of the way they were raised (maybe they didn’t have any kind of friendship with their parents) or maybe it’s because the words “honor” and “respect” have a different meaning than they did years ago. If my mom was sitting next to me and I never said a word to her, she would be offended and hurt. God is with us everywhere we go. I think we need to be aware of that & give Him the honor of our friendship because he asks for it.
I’ve found the more I talk to God, even rant to Him, instead of others, the more I see change in my life that I’m looking for. And if I don’t continue talking to Him on a daily basis, it’s almost like I forget He’s there…until something happens that causes me to turn to Him. So it’s important for me to talk to Him continuously throughout my day to keep my mind on the things that are important and avoid the things that are of this world. He’s there, don’t ignore Him.
Sending some up for you Jimmy!
Seven days without prayer makes one weak. I remember seeing that saying hanging in my brother’s room back home. I am using this season of less busyness in my life to focus on building my relationship with God. I’m writing in my journal every day and taking time to spend more lengthy time in prayer. The only way to grow is by reading the Word and taking time to pray. I’m committing to spending that time with God.