How many times have you said, “I’ll pray for you”?  How many times have you walked away from that conversation and forgotten to pray?  If you’re like me, you have forgotten far too often.  One of the ways to prevent that is to pray right then and there with the person.  Another thing you can do is write it down immediately to be added to your prayer list.  You could also ask the Lord to bring people to your mind so that you can pray for them.  The bottom line is we need to be praying for others whether they ask us to or not.  God uses our prayers.
“…The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16b
As we think about the above verse, we need to realize that it isn’t our prayers which have great power but God who works through our prayers.  When we pray, we are calling on God to release his power and grace in a situation.  It is God who will do the work as we bring our requests before his throne of grace.  In the last month, I have experienced many prayers given before the Father on my behalf.  I have lived in the midst of the power and grace of these prayers.  God has used your prayers.
On May 19^th, I received a call from my dad.  The tone didn’t sound anything like him.  He was hallucinating about a great prison wall being put up around the neighbor’s house.  That was the beginning of the end of my dad’s life.  During the days that followed he became aggressive, combative, and inappropriate.  This was not my dad and I knew that, but it was hard to live through.  My sister and I endured long days and longer nights with dad.  When I look back at the whole time, I wonder how we did it!  But the truth is, I know.
I described that time to someone as a time of sentence prayers to God.  My quiet time which I’ve enjoyed with my Father for many years was non-existent.  Although I wasn’t sitting to enjoy the Word, learn more about God, and prepare for my day, God had prepared me.  The past study and prayer gave me the truth that was part of what carried me through this hard time.  I could remind myself of what I knew to be true.  Spend time with God!  You never know when you’ll need it!  What a great foundation for times of trouble.
The truth I knew wasn’t all that carried me.  In fact, I think the prayers of others on my and my family’s behalf were vital to our survival.  They were the glue that kept us from falling apart, gave us strength to endure, and peace with our decisions.  People were praying for me and I didn’t know it.  They took the initiative to intercede on my behalf.  God used each of these prayers to carry me along in a difficult time.  God’s power was felt because he was working in response to their prayers.  How valuable are the prayers of the righteous!
Prayer was being offered around the clock for the pandemic situation by our church.  I was signed up for a spot on Mondays at 6:00 am.  There was a sweet sister who knew this and took my spot.  She prayed for my half hour so that our prayer chain would not be broken.  Her sensitivity to my situation was very overwhelming.  This gracious giving attitude helped to hold me up as I cared for my dad.
Dad left this earth on June 10, 2020.  My sister and I were there with him as he breathed his last breath.  Even that was an answer to our prayer that he wouldn’t be alone. We made the decision to bring him home in order to serve him and be with him during the last weeks of his life.  The decision to do that was made through prayer, ours and yours.
Do you pray?  Have you promised to pray?  Have you felt the prayers of others given on your behalf?  Do you take initiative to pray when you hear about situations others are going through?  We NEED to pray for one another.  God uses our prayers to display his power, grace, and love to others.  Thank you to all who have prayed for me.  I couldn’t have lived through this without your support.
“…The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16b