by Michelle Welch
I can do all this through Him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.
Philippians 4:13-14 (NIV)
One of the things I love most about my life is that I am able to be a prayer warrior for my friends and family. Even more so, I get to pray for women whom I have only met through words on a page.
While it is a privilege to pray for others, it’s also a commandment from my Abba. In John 13:34, Christ tells us that we must love one another just as He loved us. Christ prayed for his disciples daily. He prayed for all of the people He taught. He prayed for guidance and for wisdom from His Father. He prayed for strength and courage. He taught us how to pray for ourselves as well as how to pray for others.
Prayer is more than a quick dip to my knees in the morning and again right before I go to bed. It should be a constant communication with God all during the day. This is not an easy task for me. I get so caught up in work and family and my “list” that I skim through what God wants from me sometimes.
My Abba has been whispering a request to me all week. I kept putting it off until yesterday when He basically yelled it at me, and I finally stopped long enough to listen—but not before I had lost valuable time in doing something that might have made a difference.
I let myself get caught up in the details of the prayer needs and in trying to figure out how “I” could fix things. How “I” could make it better. What “I” could do that would make the person see how much “I” was doing.
When my sisters need my prayers, they need me to humble myself before God and be a prayer warrior not a prayer actress. It’s not about who knows I am praying or how hard I pray or the words I use. I am not required to fix the pain nor am I required to carry the pain. All my Abba wants me to do is open myself up to hear what HE wants me to do. What words HE wants me to say. What actions HE wants me to take.
I may not need to do anything more than pray. I might not have to leave my house, pick up my phone, or write a word about it. What my sisters need is an honest, heartfelt prayer that stays in my soul all the day long—a prayer that rises up from me to God FOR them. God never asked me to take away their pain. He only asked me to pray for them to feel His love and compassion. He asked me to pray for their needs to be taken care of by Him.
That being said, He may have something more that He wants me to do for them. But I can’t hear what “that” is unless I am praying and listening. More often than not, if I take things into my own hands, I end up doing something completely unneeded—and perhaps even unwanted.
When I am praying for a friend and He knows that I hurt for them, He takes away that hurt and replaces it with peace. When we can’t stand on our own, He gives us sisters and friends to hold us up and carry us along. If I can’t stand beside you physically, I can stand beside you mentally, and I can pray with you from halfway around the world. You may be my very best friend or just a name passed along on a prayer list. Either way, our Abba hears the heartfelt prayers said on your behalf.
Let us all be mindful of those who need our prayers. Whether they are around the corner, the block, the country, or the world, we are all just a prayer away from each other.
© 2014 MichelleWelch, Breath Of Life Women’s Ministries, © photography by Michelle Welch, all rights reserved
THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
