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Praying for Your Life

by Jerry Ousley  
11/04/2011 / Christian Living

That's exactly what I was doing Praying for my life! A few years ago I had gone out to grab a bite of lunch at a fast food joint. I got it to go and was in the process of bringing it back to my office to eat while I worked. You know how those back itches hit you? This seems to be particularly predominating in the male variety of the species. Maybe you ladies get those sudden itches too and you just have more will power or something; but when we men get them they demand immediate and total attention and relief. I was driving down the road when it hit and my body reacted by throwing my hand around behind me to scratch. The itch was just under my left shoulder blade and very hard to reach especially when driving. I must have reached too quickly or stretched the wrong way because in an instant my mind was no longer on alleviating an itch but was concentrated on the sharp pains now surging through my side.

I thought I was having a heart attack! My whole body grew numb even though those pains just kept coming. I felt weak and faint and struggled to keep from passing out while traveling down the highway. When I arrived back to the office I passed right by the other workers with only a nod and forced smile as I made my way to my own office and nearly fell into the chair. Once seated, I leaned back catching my breath and praying really hard; I was praying for my life because folks I thought I'd done some damage.

I thought seriously about grabbing my heart and saying, "This is the big one! I'm coming home to meet you Elizabeth!" Then I remembered that my wife's name is Debbie and she wasn't in Heaven but at home. After a bit the pain eased back and strength slowly returned to my body. I suppose I had just stretched my muscles the wrong way or something. Either that or the good Lord above heard my prayer - and just maybe it was both!

Prayer is the way we talk to God. As Christians we should do it every day. I believe that as we grow in Christ our every thought becomes focused toward God. Today, around the world I'm certain that there are many who are actually praying for their lives. We should join with them in compassion that God will keep them safe and out of harm's way.

But then, all of us are praying for our lives every day. We are praying that God will help us to grow in Him and become the believer He wants us to be. Our prayers are helping us to grow in our spiritual life the one that is eternal.

In Luke 11:1-13 the disciples of Jesus had asked Him to teach them to pray. I've had several people tell me that they really don't know how to pray. I suppose if we had to say exactly the right words, allowing them to flow elegantly that we might have to learn how to pray. But Jesus taught that prayer was simply asking God to be with us. Of course we get specific about certain needs but in His example Jesus taught that we praise the Lord, worship Him in prayer and ask Him to supply our daily needs. Then He used an illustration. In His story a man was found knocking at the door of a neighbor. A friend of his had arrived at his own door unexpectedly and he didn't have food to offer him. That's why he was knocking at the door of his neighbor; he needed to get some food. But it was late at night and his neighbor was already in bed. In Biblical times they didn't have bedrooms like we have today but they simply stretched their bedrolls out in the middle of the floor and each family member slept side by side. When he heard the loud persistent knocking at his door the neighbor called out asking what was so urgent. The man explained and the neighbor replied that they had gone to bed and it would be very inconvenient for him to get up and give the man some food. It wasn't necessarily that he didn't want to share with his neighbor, just that it would require not only him to get up but each of the family members so he could get to where the bread was. At first he refused but when his neighbor kept on in persistence he finally disturbed the rest of the family, got up and gave his neighbor what he wanted so he'd go away. The point was being persistent.

Now God isn't sitting up in Heaven not wanting to give us what we need. But often He does require persistence. It isn't because He doesn't have it or doesn't want to give it; just that our persistence teaches us to hold on in faith. God wants to bless us. He wants to supply our daily need. But there are times that He knows that if He makes it easy we'll grow lazy. Often He requires persistence for our own good. We need to be praying for our lives because when we do we learn patience, faith and how to not give up. When we learn those things then we can help someone else in their prayer for their lives too.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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