Responding
now to prayer triggers in your life
by Kathe Wunnenberg - Kathe Wunnenberg is the founder and president
of Hopelifters, an organization multiplying hope to and through the
brokenhearted.
“Stay dressed
for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for
their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the
door to him at once when he comes and knocks.” Luke 12:35-36
God can use
anything to prompt you to pray – situations, time, objects, places and people.
When you recognize His prayer triggers, how do you respond? Do you act
immediately or do you miss the moment to pray? Timing is everything. Yet you’ll
respond when God calls by employing a familiar if slightly revised three-step
approach.
Stop
Alice was enjoying a routine morning when her doctor came to her mind. She
hadn’t connected with him in years yet considered him a family friend. His
selfless service to his country as a doctor in the Armed Forces to patients who
couldn’t afford to pay and to his special needs son always inspired her.
The next day, he
came to mind again.
This time, she
stopped, dropped what she was doing, and prayed. “Lord, why are you bringing
him to mind and what do you want me to do?” Immediately Alice felt prompted to call him. She sensed
he was glad to hear from her. She felt his pain when he shared about a fluke
accident that broke his neck and paralyzed him. When she told him she would
pray for him each day, he was touched and she believes he needed to hear her
words on that particular day.
“I believe the
Holy Spirit definitely impresses upon us someone’s extra need for immediate
prayer, whether they are in danger, or they are struggling with something
difficult,” says Marlae Gritter, executive vice president of Moms in Prayer
International. “I’ve had countless experiences like this and have learned if I
have someone on my heart and it won’t go away I need to simply be obedient and
pray unceasingly for them.”
STOP. Pause from your activity right now. Who is
God bringing to your mind? Does someone in the military or a specific
presidential candidate need your prayers today? Invite the Holy Spirit to
reveal someone to you.
Drop
After you stop and hear his voice, be willing to drop everything to pray
or act.
“I’ve learned
that anytime I’m awakened in the middle of the night with someone on my mind,
God is giving me a special assignment to pray,” Gritter says. “I need to be
available and obey and trust that God wants to use my obedience in prayer, to
make a difference in others lives.”
Responding to
God’s call to pray or act may require you to surrender your expectations, your
plans or even your comfort:
o
Jesus asked Peter, James and John to drop their
nets (profession) and follow him.
o
Christ also asked them to pray in the garden of Gethsemane and surrender sleep.
o
When Paul was imprisoned and forced to lay down his
public ministry, he wrote and prayed.
“My response
flows out of my relationship with God. Apart from Him, I can do nothing,” says
Hal Sacks, president and co-founder of BridgeBuilders International of Arizona.
“That’s how the southwest border prayer initiatives got started. I was presented
with the overwhelming needs and concerns of some Christian leaders along the
USA/Mexico border. Initially I was indifferent and felt powerless over what was
going on, but as I listened, God’s compassion rose up in my heart and I
responded to His call to pray and to mobilize multitudes to do the same,” he
said. “Jesus reminds us, ‘with man this is impossible, but with God all things
are possible’.”
Pray
Prayer is powerful and activates the power of God.
Satan will do everything he can to distract you from praying. What activity or
expectation is distracting you? Surrender it to God…then drop down on your
knees.
Perhaps this article is the prayer trigger God will use to prompt you to
pray for a situation or leader in our nation. Respond now.
Stop. Drop. Pray.
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