[CS-FSLUG] Sharing an editorial...
Tim Young
Tim.Young at LightSys.org
Mon Apr 9 09:42:50 CDT 2012
I wanted to share a quick story that Morgan Jackson
<http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/leadership> once told me. As he
was preparing to go on a trip that he was not looking forward to, a
strange thing started happening. In a few churches he spoke at,
people would come up telling him they had felt they had a "word from
the Lord" for him. It was always a verse along the lines of what
people told Paul as he was going to Jerusalem. "You are not coming
back from this trip."
Morgan prayed about it and consulted his family. They all agreed
that he should follow the Lord on this one, regardless of what people
were saying. So he went. A few people from the States said they
would pray for him. The trip went as normal until the last stop, a
small village in the middle of nowhere. As he was leaving there,
this old man came out of a church he had parked next to and said,
"Sir, before you go, I felt I should tell you something. A few weeks
ago, our elders started having visions. A white man came to our town
and died. At first we did not know what to make of this vision, but
after a few of our elders had the same vision, we knew something was
up and we started praying to understand what this meant. Then you
showed up and all the elders who had that vision said the same
thing. You were the white man who was going to die here. We did not
think we should worry you by telling you about our vision, but
instead, our church decided to pray for you. During these few days
you have been here, we have been holding a 24-hour prayer vigil, with
someone always fasting and praying for you. Please do not take this
wrong, but we are very happy to see you go."
The "sending churches" that were sending Morgan did do some praying,
but it was that church that really did not have anything to do with
Morgan that decided that, "this death will not happen on our watch!"
Sometimes the people we think should pray for us will not; the same
as there are times when we should be better prayer-warriors for the
friends and family in our lives. And sometimes we are the ones who
are called to stand up and say, "Not on our watch!" The Lord does
not have a scale that says, "If I get three more people praying, I
will answer that prayer." But instead He works in such a way that He
gets the glory, not us. It is not our praying that makes the
difference, but rather His actions. Our prayers do bring Him
glory. But our victory is not assured by having tons of people
praying for us or by having the three prayer-warriors who will sit in
their closets on our behalf... That helps. My family is living
proof that prayer makes a huge difference.
But my advice for getting a few prayer-warriors on your side is to be
one for your friends. The more your friends know you are praying for
them during their times of need, the more likely they will seriously
pray for you in return. But, if you are going through that time of
hardship and your friends do not seem to be there, (or as in the case
of Job, the friends were part of what pushed him over the edge),
remember that you have one "friend" who will never leave you nor
forsake you, who has the Father's ear, and who intercedes with Him
with "groanings that cannot be uttered." Humans and human technology
will always let you down sometime, the same way that we will always
end up letting down our friends. It is our nature. But God will
always be there, He will always be faithful. It is His nature.
Do what you can to develop that network of prayer warriors. Be that
prayer warrior for your friends. But remember that "The horse is
made ready for battle, but victory rests with the Lord."
- Tim Young
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