This past week God has been gracefully convicting me
concerning my prayer life. Recently my prayers have been shallow, selfish, and
seldom. I know the importance of prayer, and I have seen the power of it in my
own life. But sometimes when life is going good, and I have no urgent crisis
that needs taken care of, my prayer life can start to dwindle. But what God has
been opening my eyes to is the fact that there is plenty of crisis and
devastation around me that still needs prayer. My lack of prayer for others
says a lot about my heart condition, and what its saying isn't good. What its
saying is that I’m not loving others the way that I should. I’m not caring for
others the way that I should. God started to point this all out to me last week
as I started to hear about the devastation happening in Egypt. – I am going to
be honest and let you know that I understand very little about the
circumstances surrounding the recent violence, and nothing about this post is
meant to take a political stance, but what I do know is that every time I
turned on the news, or clicked on MSN I saw a new death toll. And each time
that number grew, God began to chisel away at my heart, until eventually it
was broken for the people of Egypt. Hundreds dead. Hundreds who had wives, husbands,
children. Hundreds who probably did not know Christ. And I, foolishly, in my
own comfort thought that I had nothing to pray for.
My mom was the one that first introduced me to the term
“standing in the gap”. Three and a half years ago my brother was diagnosed as
bipolar. And in the height of his sickness Tyler’s faith had faded some. His
life had been turned upside down and he was confused and angry. During this
time, my mom came to me with this verse from Ezekiel. And she told me that if
Tyler can’t build up a wall for himself right now then we are going to do it
for him. That is probably the strongest
my prayer life has ever been, and the closest I ever felt to Christ. During
that time I was almost constantly in prayer, standing in the gap for my
brother, and desperately pleading for God’s help, His healing, His rescue. And God responded, every single time. God
constantly showed us his power, love, and mercy. It was a difficult time for
our family, but God received so much glory through it all.
I am very thankful for the blessings God has given me and my
family. I am so thankful to be in a time of peace and comfort. But I must not
be blind to everyone around me who is in a time of hardship and trial. God
longs to give us our hearts desires, what if our hearts desire was for others? If
I believe that God is faithful to answer our prayers, then why am I not praying
for things that are important? Why am I not passionately pleading for those who
are hurting?
Today my prayer is that my heart be softened, that my love
for others abounds, and that my eyes are opened to the needs around me. I want
to go to God with big requests, expecting big results. I want God to use me for
his glory. I want spend my time building up a wall and standing in the gap for
people who desperately need someone to fight for them.
Here are some other verses on prayer that God has been using
to convict me, and make my heart more like his:
James 4:2-3 “You do not have because you do not ask God.
When you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you
may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
James 5:13 “Therefore, confess
your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The
prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
Isaiah 30:18 “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious
to you, therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God
of Justice. Blessed are all who wait on him.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by
my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked
ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their
land.”
-holly
