“I have been prayer helping a friend through a family crisis.”
Those words were part of an email I received yesterday from an “older woman” in my life who has been a friend and mentor over many years. That phrase “prayer helping” grabbed my attention and satisfied my fancy for words. I’ve been rolling it around in my brain a bit this morning.
What does prayer helping look like?
- The most obvious way of prayer helping is praying with and for another. There have been times in my life where my upsets and problems and tears and emotions were so weighty and close to the surface that my own prayers would have been nothing but groans before the Almighty (thankfully, He has promised that the Holy Spirit steps in at such times and goes before a Heavenly Father giving words where we have none). In those moments, I have been blessed to have a husband who held my hand and prayed, or, just a couple of Sundays ago, a group of friends in a Sunday school class who reached out their hands of blessing and encouragment to literally gather round me in prayer.
- There’s the traditional prayer chain, where people call through an organized list to mobilize an outpouring of prayer when a need arises. With the instant aspect of electronic media, the idea of a “prayer chain” has taken on new forms. I have been blessed by a group of friends who have been a faithful email prayer team for my ministry as a weekday religious education teacher over the past four years and are now shifting their prayer focus to a new ministry in a Good News Club (children’s Bible club) in my neighborhood. Just yesterday, I opened up my Facebook page to see a status report from a young mom I know, saying her little daughter was in much pain, they were taking her to the hospital, and please pray. Many, I’m sure, did. (The problem was solved and the little gal was back to her happy self by the time of last night’s status report.) In seconds, friends on opposite sides of the world can band together for one who is in need–I’ve seen this happen and have heard the after reports of how God has stepped in mightily to intervene. A little boy who should be dead, indeed was considered basically dead after being submerged under water for many minutes beyond what a person can be and still be expected to survive, today suffers no apparent brain damage from the the trauma, a result we can only imagine is the case because of the prayer help enlisted from connections around the world via the internet.
- Prayer helping may be short-term and intense; it may be long-term, regular and steady, as a firm and persistent knocking at heaven’s gates for my friend with needs and burdens that don’t go away. When I was little girl, our church was the first pastorate for a young minister and his wife. Many years later, when that lady visited our church as a former pastor’s wife, she related her gratitude for the way God had used our church family to shape her and launch her into her role as a pastor’s wife. She also mentioned one faithful saint from our church who had been her prayer partner over many years, even after this pastoral couple had left our church for another ministry. She said, “I could tell you to the day when Florence (the prayer partner) died, for something in my life changed. The power of her faithful prayers went missing.”
There is a song that a friend, who is a faithful prayer helper herself, sang in our church several years ago that planted a permanent picture of prayer helping in my brain. The lyrics visualize an encouraging friend ”carrying you on my knees to Jesus” in prayer. I need that kind of prayer helper in my life; I want to be one for those God plants in my circle.
What are your experiences in the “prayer helper” realm?
Yesterday, an IPFW student asked me how Hope got her name. I told him the story of Kathryn, “Owl Moon,” and Jeremiah 29:11. Last night, Hope and I went to see “The Miracle Worker” at Snider HS. I was again reminded of Kathryn, deaf and perhaps blind. Those thoughts of Kate took me back to all of the people who prayed for us throughout the many months before her birth and after her death. People around the world. People who helped us know the “hope” of God’s sovereignty. People who were our prayer helpers.
When I was in college, my college leaders in church would host a bunch of us in their home for a time of fellowship and studying the word. Beth was there to listen to my “issues” and instead of saying ,”I’ll pray for you” she stopped me and said, “Let’s stop and just pray right now.” That has stuck with me ever since. Praying in the moment meant so much to me and I’ve tried to put it into practice. It allows me to go to the Lord with the person, either on the phone, instant messaging or through e-mail and not forget to pray later. It’s been a blessing!