Prayer Warrior
On Sundays, the church I attend, Ceres Christian Church, offers people who need prayer to submit written requests regarding their needs. These range from asking God to comfort them, to heal them, to bring unsaved family members to Him, to work in their broken marriages and lives, and for financial help. On Mondays, I call those who have submitted these requests to confirm it was received and advise them the church staff will be praying about that request during the week. There are usually 20-30 such requests each week. Sometimes, I myself pray about some of them. Sometimes, I ask the person on the phone if we can pray together right now and they always agree. So, I offer up a short prayer. But my primary role is to convey that the staff will be covering the request the people have submitted.
I have been volunteering to do this little job for a little over a year now. As I made the above calls last night, I began to formulate this post in my head. This past several months, people at church have begun to refer to me as a “prayer warrior.” They see me on Sundays and thank me for be praying for them. Even those who I did not actually pray with on the phone thank me for praying and I remind them I am just the person who called them to verify they are being prayed for by the staff.
I like the imagery that comes to mind when I think of the word “warrior.” Because I am a man, I see myself as being tough and pride myself on being courageous, a protector of the weak, able to stand in the gap when necessary. I felt these traits the most when I worked for thirteen years in Juvenile Hall, standing with my coworkers to protect the kids in there. The feelings continued for the next 14 years as a Probation Officer in the community, holding probationers accountable and assisting victims of crime. As a husband and father, I feel it as a provider and protecter for my family. In these things, I saw myself as a warrior. (Insert Tim Allen grunt).
I am NOT a prayer warrior; however, I have found that I am more aware of how important prayer is this past year or so. And I have been praying more. I always have stuff running through my mind. It seems constant and I “hear” what I am thinking in my head. I converse with myself most of the time. As I ponder this, I am concluding that being so conscious of my thoughts could be turned into more prayer time. Instead of conversing with myself, perhaps, if I focus, I could turn my wandering, random thoughts into prayer and direct it to God. There are so many things I could say to Him if I just take the time to consider those things. These include but are not limited to praising Him for the blessings he gives to my family, friends and me, intervening on the behalf of others for healing and comfort. I could never run out of people to pray for; those I know and don’t personally know. So many folks on the globe need Him and don’t even know it.
I am not a prayer warrior, but I could be. I just need to want it and then be one.
I have been volunteering to do this little job for a little over a year now. As I made the above calls last night, I began to formulate this post in my head. This past several months, people at church have begun to refer to me as a “prayer warrior.” They see me on Sundays and thank me for be praying for them. Even those who I did not actually pray with on the phone thank me for praying and I remind them I am just the person who called them to verify they are being prayed for by the staff.
I like the imagery that comes to mind when I think of the word “warrior.” Because I am a man, I see myself as being tough and pride myself on being courageous, a protector of the weak, able to stand in the gap when necessary. I felt these traits the most when I worked for thirteen years in Juvenile Hall, standing with my coworkers to protect the kids in there. The feelings continued for the next 14 years as a Probation Officer in the community, holding probationers accountable and assisting victims of crime. As a husband and father, I feel it as a provider and protecter for my family. In these things, I saw myself as a warrior. (Insert Tim Allen grunt).
I am NOT a prayer warrior; however, I have found that I am more aware of how important prayer is this past year or so. And I have been praying more. I always have stuff running through my mind. It seems constant and I “hear” what I am thinking in my head. I converse with myself most of the time. As I ponder this, I am concluding that being so conscious of my thoughts could be turned into more prayer time. Instead of conversing with myself, perhaps, if I focus, I could turn my wandering, random thoughts into prayer and direct it to God. There are so many things I could say to Him if I just take the time to consider those things. These include but are not limited to praising Him for the blessings he gives to my family, friends and me, intervening on the behalf of others for healing and comfort. I could never run out of people to pray for; those I know and don’t personally know. So many folks on the globe need Him and don’t even know it.
I am not a prayer warrior, but I could be. I just need to want it and then be one.
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