10/22/2024
Last night, in the year 2015, a friend phoned. I just missed his call because I was getting some clothes out of the dryer when my cell phone rang. He was calling from Georgia to wish me well during my pre-admission testing the next day and to tell me that his reverend father had prayed earlier in the day for me with a prayer group at his church. I was facing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. I texted him: "Please thank your Dad for me! Prayer is incredibly important to me, and us as Christians."
Then a day later I was working along in my office when my cell phone rang; it was my wife's sister-in-law who is a realtor, and she wanted me to pray for a house she was showing that afternoon. It had been on the market for quite some time... But that isn't the amazing part. The two women who owned the house had specifically asked her to call me and ask if I would pray for them and their house... From Alaska! As it turns out they had been members of my Sunday school class before they moved away. I knew them immediately. They are strong women of faith, and travel to remote areas of the world to provide free medical care for the less fortunate.
So here I was... Under attack medically and the Lord was using me to pray for the needs of medical professionals half a world away. How can we ever doubt His love; He always has His hand on us and reassures us that we are important to Him, even when the storm clouds rise up in some distant corner of the world, or prayers rain down on us from afar.
I then emailed my friend asking him to tell his father that the prayers of his church group had been heard and to pray for the missionary doctors and nurses who were serving those in need abroad. Healing the sick, lame, and blind; were important acts of mercy to Jesus, and they are equally important acts of mercy for us today.
Mercy, we pray for it daily and if we listen to that small still voice... we will lavish it on others in His name; even when it is through our prayers for equally sickly patients. Suffering Christians are praying for his healers; his doctors, and others who he might not know, who are sick.
Today I am cancer free, but the need to pray for those who use their medical skills in missionary fashion remains. Scripture reminds us of those things we too should do for one another; they are called the mercies, and our prayers should always reach beyond our ability to see and know.
“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”
Matthew 25:35-36 KJV
“praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,”
Ephesians 6:18-19 ESV
These acts of mercy go hand in hand with one of the great commandments... love thy neighbor; about which Jesus gave us an incredible parable which we know as the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Do we pray for others whenever we offer up our own prayers? Do we allow our voices to join with others so that we become two or more? So that God will join us there?
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Matthew 18:20 ESV
Prayer:
Thank you Father for allowing us to join with you in prayer and deed as you help us through not only our lives, but all life. Lord, give us compassion for those in need, and give us the ability to help them as we can, but Father, in those situations that are too great, or beyond our means to change, give us the heart of Christ, and the words to pray which will join us all in spirit as you lift those burdens from the afflicted. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who gathers our prayers together in a golden censor where they rise up before you from the hand of the angel. Holy are you who hears each one and weighs it individually against your will. Merciful are you Lord, as you join with us in this symphony of prayer, full of grace are you who forgives, heals, provides, and separates us from sin by them. All honor and glory are yours Father, and in every prayer you seek out our hearts desire, and weigh it against your own divine will. Help us to understand the incredible power of the world’s prayers as its saints call out unto you. Give us a full realization, knowledge, and understanding of the impact that our prayers carry around the world, and which we receive ourselves from our brothers and sisters everywhere. Let’s all pray as one, but let no prayer be greater than when we say together with confidence… “Come, Lord Jesus!”
AND ALL SAINTS, IN THE NAME OF JESUS, AND FOR ALL SAINTS EVERYWHERE, SAID… AMEN!!!
Rich Forbes