Faithful prayer warriors

18th August 2011 by MORE

Just the other night I was doing the dishes and in that short space of quiet time, I felt a heavy burden on my heart about what it means to be a “faithful prayer warrior”. This led me to a few thoughts that not only challenged me but I believe will challenge those who read this.

Praying for the miraculous

The first of these thoughts I had was about “praying for the miraculous”. A gentleman in our church often says that we need to have “faith for the miraculous” and I wholeheartedly agree. What do we mean by this?

I wonder if there is an area of your life, or maybe even a close friend or family member or maybe an entire nation that you would like to see change or witness a miracle but you think that because it’s so big, God won’t be able to handle it?

Having faith for the miraculous would completely change this. The word of God reminds us “not to be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Nothing is too big for God, he can handle it, but you need to have faith that he can!

Follow through

The second point on my heart is relevant for a lot of us today. How often in a week do you receive a text or a Facebook message, comment or post, an email or someone asks you in person to pray for them? My guess is quite a few. Can I also ask you, how many times do you text, Facebook message or post, send an email to or even say face to face that “you will be pray for them”? My guess again is quite a lot. But how many of these do you actually follow through and pray faithfully for?

I believe we are holding back on so much. I wonder what things would look like in our world if we had a bit more faith for the miraculous?

I wonder what areas of our lives would open up if we were to faithfully pray when we were asked to or when we say we will?

Don’t hold back

In just a few months I will be getting married and there have been many times where God has deliberately positioned me and reminded me to faithfully pray for my husband-to-be. The fact is, I want him to experience all that God has in store for him and our marriage and as he leads our household.

Maybe you’re in a relationship with someone, maybe you’re already married or engaged, or maybe none of the above. But the point I want to emphasise to you is that I don’t want to be one of these people that holds God back from all he has in store, do you?

It’s way too exciting and life changing to miss out on! So by deliberately and intentionally praying for whoever is in our realm and particularly those of whom we have made a commitment to pray for is paramount for the miraculous to occur and for a healthy relationship with them, so that we live this life God has intended for us.

I know we live busy lives and sometimes it is difficult to fit everything in. One thing I have found really helpful and encourage you to do is to look at the people in your realm and sphere of influence or people that you have a commitment to and intentionally place their names within your diary (or anywhere you will see everyday), once per week, every week and commit to praying for them.

So lets chose to be people that pray for the miraculous and stay accountable to what we have said or what we have been asked … You never know just what areas of your life or others lives may be released!

By Toniele Brennan, Youth Worker at The Salvation Army Lake Youth Service.