Maybe this is going to be a published piece. Who knows. But I’m thinking through who we ask to pray and when. As “crazy faith”ful of a person as I am, I still somehow stay insanely logical and I think, since God is a God of order, He likes logic and systems.
Someone asked me why I didn’t ask them to pray for me the other day. In that moment, I realized how freakin complicated of a question AND answer that was.
The honest truth was that I knew that me asking them to pray would kick them into “fix it” mode and that’s not what I needed. They1’d probably take a part of my story and tell me about a similar part of their story and “this is how I got out of that place”.
There’s a time and place for that but, probably rarely, while someone is so upset that they can’t stop crying and are just desperately reaching out to have someone go to God on their behalf.
My posture (desire to ask for prayer and desperation)
+ my circumstance (specific circumstance makes you ping certain people who share similar experiences)
+ my (reduced) capacity to process (let’s just call it what it is, depression)
+ my close friend pool (the deeper I get the fewer ppl I would even count on to be there)
+ my observation (seeing people intercede or pray or wanting to pray promotes a willingness to ask for it…I think)
++++++ blah blah blah.
We make it so complicated. And it IS. Truly. Pretty damn complicated.
But who was your spirit telling you to ask for prayer? What did your gut say?
We have these amazing spirits that seem to do all of that calculation for us in an instant.
Are we in tune with our gut or are we letting the circumstances overwhelm us to the point where we don’t reach out? Then, when you get to the point where you know you need to reach out, who? Oh that person has enough going on, that persons a fixer and not a listener, well if not them, then who? No one? Do I keep it to myself (the answer here should always be NO. I believe we HAVE to share. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of where.)
I’ve been studying the book of Job through this season and hope to put a class together on it, actually. I fell asleep last night listening to the Audible version of the book of Job being read. I woke up out of a dead sleep when I heard this scripture read:
“For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me; inside I am like bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and reply.”
Job 32:18-20 NIV
We have to share.
But who do I share with? How do I consummate my decision to submit my troubles or triumphs to God?
Simply put. Share your bruises with someone safe and share your blessings where you feel satiated.
Because this is a season where I’m taking some lumps, I feel so in-tune with how tender a place it can be to ask for prayer. I want to give you a couple things that have actually helped me share and ask for prayer.
Here are some ways to figure out who to ask for prayer:
who comes to mind 1st? There’s a reason for that and you may or may not even understand it yet.
anyone else? If you are like me, it might feel like multiple people for multiple different reasons. That’s ok. Lean into that. Different people serve different purposes in your life. It’s the same way you have specific purpose in their lives.
remember. You are not a burden. Most people you would ask to pray for you would receive that opportunity as an honor to do so.
where do you feel safe to ask? Is it a private core of people? a small group of people? A larger community of people? Deciding where your comfortable asking can take the stress off ‘the ask’ by narrowing your options.
Do you know that just by asking, your prayers will be answered. Multiple times in the Bible it reminds us that where 2 or more are in prayer or agreement, those requests are answered.
I just realized that I started with the answer, before I even addressed the problem.
That’s ok. In math, we learn that both sides of the equation are equal. So for this example we know that X + Y = ask for prayer. Instead of answering for x and y theoretically, I’ll fill in the variables with my OWN problem from this week.
Here is my Facebook post from Monday April 18th, 2022:
You cannot cancel MY healing!!
Last Thursday they cancelled my physical therapy which was the last element of care that this broken system was providing. We don’t know why. We have no idea what’s going on.
This morning I woke up overwhelmed. By so many things and I think not having PT to look forward to just was the straw that broke the camels back.
Big ol’ full size tears fell and I couldn’t even do anything to stop em. I reached out to just a couple people and just asked for them to pray.
Moments later. And I mean MOMENTS later. As soon as I SHAREd … something went from pain I was holding onto, to pain I was willing to let go of.
So I wrote out my own physical therapy plan.
I executed a perfect PT therapy session today because NO ONE is allowed to be in charge of my healing except me. I’ve played within the guidelines of the system and now it’s time to light the system on fire.
*for the work comp spies* yes, all of these are approved workouts via my prior PT specialists. 🙃 - yes, I need a PT specialist to help me navigate this season and fight the muscle atrophy that’s setting in. Yes you made a huge mistake cancelling my surgeon, Aqua therapy and now physical therapy. Not sure how you sleep at night.
God is good. Let’s HEAL.
(Sorry if the title of my physical therapy list offends you, that wasn’t my intention and I hadn’t planned on SHAREing it publicly.)
The reason I needed prayer was because I was completely heartbroken and overwhelmed when I woke up Monday morning. Honestly, I’ve waken up like that a lot in this season and my request for prayer in this particular situation represented MORE of my commitment to surrender, because what was difficult in the past has become easier for me.
Baby steps. I’m taking them. I don’t write to prove that I know, I write to submit to my own transformation. And then, to share it.
What I love about this past Monday was that God affirmed my posture of prayer request INSTANTLY. I cannot say it’ll always be like that… but don’t be surprised if God shows up in an instant sometimes. The Posture of Prayer … That’s the name of this article. Volume 1. The Ask.
Next week we’re going to dig into The Posture of Prayer from the perspective of the one being asked to pray. If you’ve never been asked to pray for someone, it’s such a beautiful honor. Truly. Mater of fact, will you pray for me? There are so many things but you can just ask God for healing and provision for me and my family. We need it. We need Him. I’d really appreciate any and all prayers. Yeah… from you. I trust you to receive that request and do whatever it is that God nudges you to do with it. Personally… beginning to pray for others started to open me up to ask for it from others.
Prayer is so powerful and it starts with YOU. All you gotta do is decide that you don’t want to do it alone.
The Posture of Prayer - Vol 1 - "The Ask"