“…let him who des right continue to do right” Rev. 22:11
“Lord, help me to do the next right thing.” ~~~ This simple prayer has kept Shaun and me out of more hot water.
Last week, Alan (named changed) came to a group of us for prayer. He has bleeding in his brain, and was asking for a healing touch. (The cause of Alan’s head trauma most likely comes from physical blows to the head…for Alan has been a gang member for quite sometime.) I grabbed a pad from the pews to kneel on (cause we knew this was gonna take some TIME, and wanted to keep our focus on the King and not on our knees). We all knelt with Alan as he poured out his confessions, one after another, before God. Tears streamed down this broken man’s face, as he recalled difficult memories, asking Jesus to forgive him for the horrific things he has done to people. ~~ Oh, what a privilege it was to hold this mans hand in both of mine, look into his tear filled eyes, and share with him Christ’s limitless love!
We prayed that God would infuse Alan with knowledge of His love and mercy, that God would be a tangible presence in this new life walk,…that God would go before Alan, and be Alan’s rear guard as Alan changes his entire way of living,…that God would touch Alan physically in a way that Alan can see His presence,…that God would make Alan’s former way of living distasteful to him, giving Alan and insatiable hunger for Jesus instead,…that God would give Alan discernment to cast down the devil’s lies that he is “nothing”, and to know in his gut that he is now a righteous child of the King,…that God would help Alan not be overwhelmed by the “mountain” in front of him, but help him do the next right thing…
And all along, we prayed the same prayer over ourselves. (For although none of us there on our knees, had physically beat someone to death, we know that Christ sees us the same…sinners saved by grace in need of an ever-present Savior.)
Facts are, each of us wrestles with life! Each of us has our personal “mountain” to climb… So would you too join us this week and personally pray something like this:
“Lord I love You! Praise You for who You ARE. Lord, please give me an insatiable desire for You and the things that give You joy. Help the sinful desires and areas of my life become distasteful to me. Please empower me, through Your presence in me to live for You. Lord I need Your divine help to pull this off and I am asking You, Lord, to cause me to want to draw near to You! Change my very core, Lord…from the inside out! God, please give me divine eyes and heart into the situations and people around me…even into my own heart, Lord. Please help me not to look at the mountain before me, but instead focus on the next right step to make. (I know that this step may not appear “best” at the time, but I’m trusting You, that if I do what is “right”, Your best for me will be the result.) Oh God, protect me from my foolish self! Please helm me in from the front, behind and sideways…I need Your protection dear Jesus. I love You.”
Love to each of you,
Shaun and Betsy
