Stupid annoying traffic jam! The freeway was at a standstill, so my husband and I cleverly decided to take the side road. Oops. Bad idea. (Everyone else was clever too). So we detoured over to another route and found it even worse! The radio update chalked it all up to an accident. Bummer. Grumbling all the way home (and hitting all the red lights) I was so glad to finally be home. What a day!
Three hours later, it occurred to me that someone had been in a terrible accident! Wow. I was so consumed with my own discomfort that compassion never occurred to me. So I stopped right then and prayed for the people involved…whoever they were.
We are told to pray for others, but do we? In my opinion, praying is not fun. It takes effort. And time.
Revisiting the account of Jesus in the garden just hours before His tortuous murder on our behalf, in indescribable agony, do you know what He was doing? PRAYING FOR US! And I’m pretty sure it was not fun. But I am SO glad He did!
We too should pray for others more, just as if they were our OWN loved ones. When God brings a person to mind, we can pause for a moment and lift them up. When we hear a siren, we can offer a prayer for the people involved. When someone posts a need on Facebook, rather than just “like” it, we can stop and actually talk to the Lord about it. It may not be fun, and it will take a minute. But it should blow us away to realize we have the awesome PRIVILEGE of coming before the God of the universe, because of the sacrifice of His Son Jesus, Who opened up the way for us!
I hope someone else is there to pray for me when I need it. And isn’t it amazing to know we can tap into supernatural realms at any moment to do something that really will make a difference!
“Let us come boldly before the throne of grace.”
(Hebrews 4:16)
