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...

Especially in our current political and social climate!

No political jokes allowed from this point forward... LOL

Here's how it comes out... "__________ is one fry shy of a Happy Meal."

You know that when you hear those phrases you are attempting to be kind and say something not so nice about a person.

Joyce Hostetler, a former board member and board president, says the way they say that in the south is... "Bless their hearts."

"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 parents of an 11 year old boy that was going along fairly normal when they found a rare brain tumor just a year and a half ago. He just got over a lung infection that got as high as his trach tube. After rounds of antibiotics and other meds, he is now having less than one seizure a day. Down from the 7-9 he had previously.

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What do you do?

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I think about the mother of a 18 year old, who watched as her son was diagnosed at the age of 11 with tumor behind his eye. He later contracted a flesh eating virus that has disfigured him for life. He will have to have some form of surgery most of his life. But he did get to enter college this fall at Ohio State University. (tough for a Michigan fan to even type that) This is his senior picture.

His picture when he was fighting the flesh eating virus is almost too much to handle...I'm sure his parents were more than heartbroken.

I would have been if it had been my son. Heck (sorry for the language...LOL) I nearly passed out when they did a blood gas draw from my son when was in the hospital with pneumonia at the age of 4. I had to hold him down and watch his face as he looked at me like I had betrayed him!

That's nothing compared to this poor kid.

Yet, he has found a way to triumph.

God could have stopped any of the suffering anywhere along his journey. But he didn't.

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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.

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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) Emphasis mine.

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...

P.S. I hope you've enjoyed the small "Pocket Prayers" booklet.

Feel free to repeat or maybe even begin the 40 day journey of praying, using each page/day of the book to guide you in seeking out the prayer tutorial Jesus gave to his disciples.

I will be repeating this 40 day prayer journey beginning on November 22, 2020. I will be inviting those who have supported us to join with us as we pray focus on praying through the most stressful season in most people's lives.