The Prayer Challenge

Our weekend blog challenged you to pray about some specific things which are close to your heart.  My thanks to those who participated and emailed some descriptive notes about your prayers.  The paragraphs below are some I wish to share with you.

"I accept the weekend prayer challenge and wish to let everyone know my prayers were for the hundreds of lives affected by the recent severe weather, and specifically those whose homes were damaged or completely washed away in Central Texas.  I also wish to thank each one which was lending a helping hand to those who lost everything."  (After weeks of rainy days, the community of Wimberly, Texas suffered a devastating flood 8 days ago.  We also ask that everyone continue to pray for the families of those who are still missing.)

Another mentioned a family member suffering from cancer.

"Our entire family had a "prayer meeting" at our home this morning as we each remembered J****, a cousin who is 9 years old.  Each of the five members of our family prayed for the complete recovery of our loved one."

Then, this man told about praying for a job, after having been out of work for four years.

"This is not the first time I have prayed to receive a job so I could support my family.  I pray daily when going over the job listings in the paper and online.  Several short term jobs have come my way and I am thankful for each one.  I know I am in God's hands and he promises to be with me.  I would ask each of your readers to pray for me, too."

This next one is from an 11-year old boy.

"I am not used to praying a lot, mainly because I don't know how.  Now that my father is deployed and involved in training the military in the Middle East, I say a prayer for his safety each night.  Sometimes my sister is with me and we pray together.  Mainly, we ask God to keep our dad safe, but we also pray for peace in the world."

A big thanks for those who sent emails after their weekend prayer challenge.  If you happened to miss it, you may scroll back to read the post from last Friday.  We can all benefit from prayer, both as the one doing the praying, and especially as one for which others pray.  It's not limited to a weekend challenge.  God longs to hear from you all the time.  And, Christians are encouraged to be praying people.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:4-7

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