The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(A repeat from 2012)
"Passing Prayers"
In Heaven, a fellow citizen may introduce themselves we never knew while upon the earth. "I want to thank you for that prayer you prayed for me on August 31, 2020," they'll say with a grateful heart and smile. "The Lord did wonderful things in my life and the life of my family in response to your intercession."
In all honesty (and we will be completely honest in Heaven!), we might respond, "Dear Sister, it's kind of you to say that, but I must confess that I didn't know you during our earthly lifetime. You must be mistaking me for someone else." Our fellow believer will persist, however. "No, it was you," she'll insist. "You passed by me in a store on that day, and the Holy Spirit caused something about me to get your attention. And you responded. You prayed."
"Lord, I don't know that person or anything about them. But You know her perfectly. I therefore ask You to work in her heart and life according to Your glory and their need."
Our sister will conclude, "Our Heavenly Father answered that prayer, and it will take me awhile, a long while, to tell you how much He did in and through my life because of your request. Thankfully, we have a long while, so here goes. It all started..."
The most wonderful thing about such passing prayers, offered briefly but consequentially, is that the Lord so obviously receives all the glory for them. This is true of all genuine prayer, of course, but those intercessions offered with little knowledge and few words will likely be the ones through which His greatest work is done. Thereby, "the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:11). The pray-er will be blessed in his praying, the pray-ee will be blessed in the answer, and together both will fall before their Heavenly Father to praise Him for the gift of prayer both in its offering and its answers.
The Lord Jesus Christ warned that "long prayers" can involve little more than the pretentious attempt to garner attention from others or foster fleshly pride (Mark 12:40). Brief prayers, conversely, may lead to the most powerful Divine response. Only God sees into the heart of people, wherein "the issues of life" truly exist (Proverbs 4:23). He alone knows our true need, and the simple requests that focus on His knowledge and understanding may result in our finest intercessions.
Certainly, long seasons of genuine prayer have their place at times in our lives. We give thanks for them. However, seemingly passing prayers, inspired and enabled by the Holy Spirit along the byways of life, accomplish much for the glory of God and the blessing of others. Perhaps today He will lead accordingly, foreshadowing another day, in another time and another place, when some brother or sister will approach us on a glimmering street of gold. "I want to thank you for that prayer you prayed for me on August 31, 2020. Here's how God answered..."
"Pray without ceasing."
(I Thessalonians 5:17)
Weekly Memory Verse
Keep thy heart with all diligence. For out of it are the issues of life.
(Proverbs 4:23)
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