Hard Time to Learn a Lesson
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Philippians 4:6
When my husband and I were recently ill and in the hospital and I was truly uncertain about how much longer God would allow me to be used by Him here on earth and I was definitely lifting up some prayers. But, I don’t think that I was anxious. In pain, yes, praying for wisdom for doctors, yes, but anxious…no.
Even though I was not anxious, was giving thanks to God and lifting prayers up to Him, I still had a lot to learn about prayer and God took this opportunity to teach me. It was a hard time to learn a lesson.
As a child, my dad had taught me that I should never ask anyone for anything. If I couldn’t attain it myself, I didn’t deserve it. Needless to say, this has been a tough area for me to grow in as a follower of Christ. I will pray for you all day long, but to ask you to pray for me, has always been a struggle. First because of the way that I was brought up, but also because I have also struggled feeling unworthy of having someone else pray for me (both issues that the Lord has been working on in my life for a long time).
In John 17:6-21 we see the beautiful prayer of Jesus. As He sits in the garden, awaiting both His betrayer and the onset of the sufferings of the cross, our Savior prays. And, what does He pray for? He prays for the disciples and for all of those who will come to faith through Him (us). If our precious Savior would pray for us during this most difficult time and while we were still sinners, He already deemed us worthy of prayer. So that defeats my issue of not feeling worthy.
In 2 Thessalonians 3, the Apostle Paul requests that the Churches of Thessalonica, Ephesus, Philippi and Rome pray for him and his mission. We also see Paul, in turn, praying for these churches. The Apostle Paul also tells us to “be imitators of me as I am of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 11:1. If I am to follow him as he follows Jesus, should I not then be asking for prayer and praying for others in return?
Galatians 6:2 says “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” If I truly believe that bearing others burdens is the fulfillment of the law of Christ, how then can I keep others from praying for me and fulfilling this law?
Part of my issue with not asking for prayer was that I felt so poorly that I wasn’t well enough to reach out to others to ask. But one of the really incredible things that I found, was that people were already praying for me. Believers and nonbelievers alike. And, I covet those prayers.
Through this episode, God showed me that I am worthy of prayer, should be requesting prayer and that through a trial like this, not only are my brothers and sisters going to the Father on my behalf and spending additional time with Him, but even those who do not know Jesus as Lord of their life went to the Father and drew closer to Him through my trial!
Thank you Lord for our trials and for also teaching me, yet another reason, to rejoice in my sufferings.
I pray that today you would understand that you are worthy to be prayed for, that you would have the courage to ask for prayer and that you would be praying for others. Let us bear one another’s burdens and perhaps keep from learning lessons in hard times ; )
Luv ya!
