Chapter 7 ~ They Need Help

I chuckled, again, as I began this chapter.

Why?

Because this is the one aspect of the Lord's prayer Max talks about that ALL of us believe. Maybe not the way Jesus says it, but the way Max titles it, we hold tightly to the topic.

"They Need Help"...

You've said this about parents, about children, spouses, pastors, politicians, co-workers... and the list could go on and on...

Here's how it comes out... "__________ is one fry shy of a Happy Meal." or the most famous southern version... "bless your (their) heart."

You know that when you hear those phrases you are attempting to be kind and say something not so nice about a person."Max", you may say, "I know lots of people who Jesus needs to help." Well, you're missing out on the message if you're stuck on this phrase...like my poor mind is.

So I chuckle...Now I move on, it's a good thing for my spiritual life to do so.

Each day of our time on earth, there is someone who is at a point where you and I can't help them. You're willing to try sometimes, but no matter what, you're not able to meet the need of another person.

My thoughts go to my everyday life.... the mother and father of a 6 month old who has failing kidneys, which was unknown to these loving parents at the time this bundle of joy arrived in their life. Now their lives, and the life of their innocent child, have been altered. It hurts.

What do you do?

I think about the mother of a 17 year old, who just recently had an altercation with someone he should not have been associating with. He is now laying in a casket. Stabbed to death. And a heart stops. A heart breaks. A family is irreparably changed. A mother's heart will ache, possibly for the rest of her days. It may be what shortens her own life, a broken heart that loses its will to thrive.

What do you do?

Or it could be a phone call. At the other end is a voice with news too hard to bear. "Your cancer has returned and we need you to have more scans done." Their mind swirls as the memory of the past 4 bouts of cancer weigh on their mind & cause their heart to nearly stop beating. As soon as the heaviness arrives and it feels as if their heart will stop, the anxiety pumps adrenaline to their system and everything is spinning again.

What do you do?

You ring the doorbell. That's what Max encourages.

What is he response from the other side of the door? According to Luke, a man who interviewed eyewitnesses of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, you knock at midnight and the owner of the house answers and helps.

Why?

"Jesus never refused an intercessory request. Ever!" (pg 70)

I've been pretty open in my blog posts as we've journeyed through books together, I guess there is no sense in changing now.

Max, I think you've gone a little overboard here.

You may think he has too.

I take issue that "Jesus never refused an intercessory prayer" on a number of levels, but my most difficult one is, I've prayed for people and their life seemed to be lacking God's intervention.

You have too!

What do we do with those moments?

When God seems deaf to the appeal of our prayer and seems to ignore the quickened beating of our heart?

Faith...

"Belief: pounding on God's door at midnight. Doing whatever it takes to present people to Jesus." (pg 72)

I believe God answers! I do!

Despite my struggle of faith for the answers, or lack of, I hold to the only thing that makes sense. God loves me, He loves who I am praying for, and ultimately, He knows how and when to answer.

One other thing that plays into that equation for me... I believe God doesn't always share the answer to our prayers with us. We will have to wait until eternity to see them.

I know that isn't comfortable, but there's more truth to that statement than the ones I used to default to.

Before it was, "God always answers prayer" or "In His timing" or "I just have to have faith" (or maybe more faith) or "It just not his will."

Those still exist in my vocabulary. They just bow to the reality that I don't know best. Neither did Job. It's why God NEVER explained to Job the purpose for his pain. He just tells him, "you aren't big enough to handle the answers." (My version of God's answer to Job. Read it, Chapters 38-42)

In light of the heaviness of my post up until now, I love Max's assertions, "We do not change God's intentions, but we can influence his actions" (pg 74) and "Intercessory prayer isn't rocket science. It acknowledges our inability and God's ability." (pg 75)

How true.

There are at least another dozen topics I could cover from this chapter. It is rich in thoughts and challenges about praying for others.

Instead, I will close with my favorite part of the chapter... "You are never more like Jesus than when you pray for others."

Let's stop right now and do that... pray for each other and our families, our jobs, our churches, our faith, our stresses and struggles.... PRAY... Go ahead... It is the best investment you'll make today.

Till next week...