Ears To Hear # 39

I CONFESS
I Need Your Prayers

         I hurt so much last night: my arms, my legs, my back, my neck…everything hurt. I had decided to sleep on the couch to see if the pain would be less than it had been for several days. Each morning the pain would awake me and I could hardly get out of bed because of the pain.
         As I tried to sit up this morning, my back felt too weak to lift myself. I looked at the clock and it was 3:33 a.m. 
         What was going on? What was happening to me? I had always been healthy. Was I falling apart? 
         One word quickened in my spirit. “Pride.”
         “Pride, Lord?” I thought I heard Him saying, “Pride.” That made sense, especially when I knew I needed prayer but didn’t want to ask anyone to pray for me.
         Didn’t I believe in prayer? I knew it was time to renew my mind about prayer. I remembered the times I had prayed with great faith for the healing of others. But at those times, I was not physically hurting…nor drained and tired from lack of sleep.
         Then I understood that “Faith” is truly a gift from God. I have felt His Faith rise up in me to pray for others.
         It’s the Compassion of Christ in us that causes us to want to help each other. We can stir up our Faith when we feel inadequate in ourselves or even lack faith in the prayers of others. Reading God’s Word stirs our faith and builds it up.
         Revelation from the Holy Spirit confirms the TRUTH of God’s Word to build our faith. This is the revelation we need, to see the power in other people’s prayers. We should not stop at the person, but understand the Power of God working through that person and the importance of being in agreement…giving and receiving in faith.
         For too long, we have stopped at the messenger instead of believing the Message that Christ came to heal the sick, bind up the broken hearted, and set the captives free. Free from pain and doubt. To understand that HE is the Healer and when He asks us to pray for one another, He has a purpose for asking.

 

         Interesting, that at this same time in the early morning hours, another child of God could not sleep. I received her email and realized we were both awake at the same time. I began to pray for her and asked her to pray for me.
         As my pride prevented me from asking prayer from others, I wondered how many of my friends on the internet had withheld their requests. Why are we embarrassed to ask others to pray for us? Do we see it as a sign of weakness on our part? I think of the sincere humility of some who ask for prayer. Some have been so strongly convinced of the power of prayer for physical healing, that they ask BELIEVING!
         Some are very flippant about throwing their requests out…like they don’t really expect their prayers to be answered, but…just in case. 

REMINDERS FROM THE WORD

         As we fill ourselves with God’s Words, scriptures like this one return to us. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (one made righteous through the Blood of Jesus) availeth much.” (James 5:16b).
         Do we often take each others’ requests lightly, also?

HAVING A NEED CAN BE
A
BLESSING

         When physical attacks come on the Body of Christ, as I see much of it lately, we can not deny the pain, but from God’s Word, we know that it has no right to stay there.
         For me, it reminds me that I have been insensitive to the physical pain of others because I so seldom experience it myself. And if I truly want to know Jesus better, I can only, in a very small way, connect with His physical sufferings. Many of God’s children, can relate to Christ’s physical suffering in a much deeper sense than I have been allowed to experience.

FEAR

         Physical pain can bring fear which is not of God. It reminds us of our mortality. But the first thing that needs to go when we are under physical attack is “Fear”.

         We remember that Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17).

I WENT TO HIS WORD

         At three o’clock in the morning when one is living alone, there’s no one to go to but the Lord. And that can work to our advantage.
         His Word is Life and health to our Flesh and Health to our bones. (Prov. 4:22, Prov. 16:24).
         I went to God’s Word; opened to the Proverbs and Psalms for this day…Proverbs 19, and Psalms 91-95. Immediate assurance and comfort reached out to me, especially from the 91^st Psalm.
         More comfort, faith, and assurance comes me each time I read John 17 where Jesus is praying for us; interceding to our Father God.
         What more could we need than the prayers of Jesus Himself as He sits beside the Father?

THE LAST TO KNOW

         How often I think I must be the last to learn a truth that many others already know. Not a head knowledge, but a heart knowledge.
         Now, I pray that if there are others like me, that our Lord will reveal in our spirits, that when someone prays for us, it is the same as Jesus praying for us. We know man can do nothing apart from God. But to be Receivers by Faith, we must accept that God uses His willing vessels and that He works through each of us when we are sincere and when we are His. Not by our power or our might, but by His Spirit. (Zachariah 4:6).
         For His Word says: “For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13).
         The next time we pray for each other, let’s BELIEVE that it is God working through each of us…as He calls us to Pray for one another. (James 5:13-16). 

“Pray one for another that ye may be healed.”
 (James 5:16a).

MORE TO PAIN THAN
THE EYE CAN SEE.

         So many lessons to be learned about and through pain. We may come to many different conclusions about how we see pain. That’s okay. As long as the Lord has shown you what you need to know…you can walk in Peace, whether in pain or not.
         My personal lesson was as much about “pride” as it was “pain.” I had to learn why it’s okay to ask others to pray for us. So I repent, which means changing my mind and ways, and in humility I ask you to pray for me to be healed of whatever was attacking me. I really do not have time to hurt.
         And I thank you right now for your effectual prayers. At this moment, all of my joints and muscles are working just fine. By Faith, I believe they will continue to do so. Thank you for allowing God to work through you as you prayed for me and we all pray for each other.
         Sincerely, Gwen.