On the Spot Prayers
I continue to discover that worshiping God is all about being available and obedient to His promptings—whenever and wherever they come. This is especially true in the area of prayer.Last weekend my wife and I attended the graduation party for the beautiful daughter of two dear friends of ours. It was a wonderful celebration, and we looked forward to seeing this family, especially as one of our friends was undergoing chemotherapy after recent cancer surgery. After talking for a while, my friend told me that their health insurance company had rejected their claim for his wife’s treatment and he expressed frustration and concern about their finances. I immediately sensed God’s prompting to pray for His sovereign power to be released in their situation and her health.Many times in the past I would have pushed aside this prompting and just said, “I will pray for you.” But I sensed that God had given this moment to us, and I asked my friend if I could pray for him right there. He said “yes,” and we stood together in the center of the reception hall, lifting up prayers for God’s healing, peace, and provision in this challenging season.The next day I received this text message:
“Always great to be with you two. And thanks much for the on-the-spot prayers for the medical insurance issue. AFTER praying it now turns out there was a mistake in their system and that indeed insurance will cover like we originally thought. Praise the Lord!”
In my response text, I echoed his praise to our Lord. I love our God who ALWAYS answers prayers, and so Terese and I continue to pray for God’s unsurpassed power to fill and heal his beloved wife.Prayer is the breath of a worshiper and follower of Jesus Christ. In the Scriptures—many times over—God invites and even urges us to bring everything to Him in prayer, throwing our cares and concerns into his powerful hands. Our insistence that we can handle things on our own, or that our concerns are too little—or too big—to bring to God is nothing more than ugly falsehoods from the enemy of our souls to keep us from experiencing God’s great power.But when we say “yes” to God’s promptings to pray, we open up the conduit to His grace and power to be released in the hearts and lives of the people we are praying for, and even in our own circumstances.Prayer is an obedient act of worship that blesses others (and us!) with God’s presence and unsurpassed power.I pray we will keep our spiritual antennas tuned to God and say “Yes” when He asks us to lift up on-the-spot prayers.God bless you.Chris Atkins