-I've heard a few stories that I was just not okay with recently. It was enough for me to re-evaluate how IS prayer playing a role in my life to be intentional for the people that I see, hear, spend quality time with, serve with, and respond to.
-One was from a teacher in my small group, " I don't like to think about the current events happening around the nation about guns occurring at schools because I never thought that I was working in an career where I would be putting my life on the line." It was her way of saying I can go to work because I don't think too much into the fact that I am putting my life on the line. She was saying if I think about it too much, I wouldn't be a teacher. Then recently I saw a post on my FB wall about a teacher friend of mine where a student brought a gun onto campus.
-I saw am seeing more activism for women in ministry, I am encountering women who have been oppressed because they are women in ministry.
-In the last 3 months I have heard word through my local community that friends of mine are falling away from their faith because 1( they had to come to terms with their realities, Yes needed to be Yes and No needed to be No in their lives, 2) the question that some were facing is: Can I be a Christian any longer because I just realized that I am gay, and this is what the Bible says." 3) They have found themselves following leaders of a coltish practice, but doing so blinded by those practices.
-I can see that in my life as more of my friends are identifying their faith, they are leaving to go serve on campuses, internationally with the talents that God has given them, and into places where they are handling logistics and administrations of organizations.
-2 of my friends have been diagnosed with breast cancer. one is a teacher, and the other an expecting mother as well as a type of teacher.
I am seeing that yes, prayer IS in my life, but when I see the things listed above, I don't want to acknowledge that prayer IS in my life. I would rather that be a secondary phrase to this: BE PRAYER. I see that prayer is in my life, but I need it TO BE FULLY ACTIVE, TO BE NEVER CEASING, TO BE A GIFT, TO BE INTENTIONAL INTERCESSION, TO BE REAL, RAW and REFRESHING, TO BE A BLESSING. I can claim that it IS in my life, but can I learn to BE a LIVING PRAYER for those that surround me. I want those around me to know that even when I loose energy and cannot pray over the phone or in front of them, that I am doing so away from them and making this a PRIORITY. I hear sometimes that people say: "oh, yeah she is a person that prays." In these times of transition and change of this world, I don't want the people that I pray for to say, "She is praying for me." I want them to say, 'She prays.".
Ways to apply this knowledge of "being prayer" that I began a few years ago was praying for my friends through email. I would email them and write out my prayer for them so that they could physically see the words that I uplift for them. I started making intentional phone calls randomly when I thought of that person, and when I see something that is showstopping on my FB wall. I stop and just silence my heart into prayer. If your new to prayer, start with commuting to BE PRAYER for one person. It began with the acceptance that I don't have to be a somebody to be prayerful. I just needed to know how to express myself. It also began with acknowledging that this is a spiritual discipline and an act of faith. It is practicing and polishing my shield of faith, as well as keeping a litany (database) of praises by God's hands and not my own. With that I am seeing more and more how he does immeasurable possible things.
I hope that these words open your perspective on the role of prayer in your life. Consider to BE PRAYER.
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