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"I'll Pray For You!"
by Steve Countryman Frank is one of my customers who stopped by my shop today to pick up his computer. I was working on it trying to fix his wireless problem. As he waited we talked and he mentioned that he was going to Phoenix in the morning to begin his eight treatments of Chemo. Frank has cancer. I felt that I should pray for Frank but I didn't. Instead as he left I spoke Christianese to him. I told him that I would pray for him. Christianese is when you say something that you have heard other Christians or church members say. They are sayings that sound good and proper but have little to no power of doing good. "If God wanted me healed He would have healed me", "It must be God's will for me to be sick", "God doesn't like rich people", "God helps those who help themselves", "Once I have my life together then God will bless me", "Life will get better when we get to heaven", "I sure hope that Jesus comes soon", "Lord help me survive another day" and there are dozens more. Most all Christainese phrases are NOT based on the Bible and are not found in scripture! But there I was saying "I'll pray for you". Yes praying for someone is Biblical. Yes it is found in the Bible. But it is also used as a "cop-out"! I have prayed for others before and right there in my shop. This would not be my first time. But this time I pulled out the lame excuse of offering to pray for Frank later. I have always made it a point that if I tell someone that I will pray for them then I do my best to do so! I have always hated hearing someone say that they would pray when you know that it wasn't going to happen. I received a "check" in my spirit after this had happen. A check in your spirit is when the Holy Spirit gives you a jab in the side to let you know that you missed an opportunity. Later after I prayed for Frank the Holy Spirit let me know why I was to pray for Frank right then. By praying for and over someone in person by the laying on of hands you give God the opportunity to touch and heal that person. By doing it that way God gets the glory now in front of witnesses as He heals people. Praying for Frank later doesn't present the same opportunity for God to get the glory. I had never thought of it that way, God forgive me! In addition to all of this it came down to one thing that I wasn't doing that all of us as Christians should always do. EVERY TIME an opportunity to pray for someone comes along, we should stop what we are doing, turn to that person and ask them if they want to be healed and get their permission to pray for them. This should be an automatic response from every Christian everywhere. If you hear a person mention that they need a ride and you are heading that way most of the time you would offer them a ride. To most people that is a regular response. It should be the same for us Christians every time we hear someone say that they are sick or not feeling well. Telling them that "I'll pray for you" is lame! We are here on earth as God's hands, feet and mouth and we are to shine to others the love of God and let them see Jesus in us! I know of no other way that does it any better than this! Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |