While many of you know
that I serve as a pastor at a local church, perhaps you do not know that I
serve as a volunteer at a local day shelter for the homeless called Opportunity
House. While persons do not spend the
night at Opportunity House, they can get
two meals a day… take a shower… get clothing… receive medical care… and the
like. While they minister to the
homeless, they also work with people to move them away from being
homeless.
Once a week, I lead a group
at the Opportunity House that is composed of
persons who are in a program to help them move away from homelessness
and toward self sufficiency. I lead a
spirituality group with a group of 10-15 persons. Many of them are in recovery from an
addiction to alcohol or drugs A few weeks ago, a young woman in the group named Kathy
(not her real name) asked me before the other group members to
pray for her. Kathy said that she felt
a strong urge to use her drug of choice
again and needed me to pray for her that she
could stay clean. She further
stated that she did not know if she could make it without using for another hour much less another day.
I did something then
that I had never done with that group.
I STOPPED. I told Kathy and I
did not want to just pray for her in the future, but wanted to pray for her
right then. So, I asked the others in the group to either
join me in pray for Kathy or to be
respectful as I offered a prayer for Kathy.
And then, I prayed for Kathy.
When I finished my prayer, I
opened my eyes and looked toward Kathy to see tears streaming down her cheeks.
Have you ever had
someone to ask you to pray for them?
Perhaps it was a friend, family member, or a person you work with or who
attends church with you. Maybe it was
a person asking for prayer on
Facebook. In a moment of support, you
“liked” their prayer request or you commented on Facebook that you would be
praying. There is another option and
it is the option that day when Kathy asked for prayer. That option is : S.T.O.P. STOP TO OFFFER PRAYER.
I don’t know about you,
but sometimes life seems so busy and frantic that is easy for me to forget what
is important and most needed. When
someone requests you to pray or when someone you encounter seems to need
prayer, why not S.T.O.P. Right then and
there if the situation allows me, stop to offer prayer. Have a joy-filled week.- Pastor Randy L. Wall
PRAYER
-- O God, through the prompting of your Spirit, “teach
us to pray”. There are so many people
around us who need your presence and power in their life.
Lord, teach us to pray for them;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
