..for the father’s heart
I recently had a familiar experience where the Lord prompted me to pray for one our children. I am so thankful that when our children are far from home, the Lord shows me to see a small bit of their physical location, some of their emotions, and then leads me in prayer for them. In this particular case, he showed me our son Ben as he stood on a dock in Alaska, looking across a bay at the far hills. The day was dark and cloudy, and Ben was feeling a bit gloomy as well. Following is a copy of the email exchange I had with Ben.
To Ben: What I thought I saw was you looking out into the bay, perhaps feeling a little down as you looked at the grey weather and the water. The Holy Spirit had me pray you would not see mere clouds and water, but recognize the mighty hand of the one who made all that you can see, and stands next to you now.
From Ben: Hey Dad! Good to hear from you! God is truly good and amazing your prayer was dead on... I was looking out at the water and clouds the other day and I saw the greyness but then I could see something much more beautiful and amazing then I can see. I feel His presence up here closely and I have been spending time in the Word daily.
I would like to hear how the Lord leads you in prayer, and shows you how to pray – some of us receive words and no pictures, others receive understandings of spiritual activities around them, etc.
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4 comments:
Very rarely do I have pictures of what others are feeling or seeing. This may be a gift that I do not have, or allowed myself the stillness to hear the Spirit talk to me.
A large struggle for me has to been shoot first and ask later. I am really good at giving my advice, but I'm not sure if it is always Christ's advice.
Many times, I feel that Christ will pull me back far enough or slow the situation down enough to see what is going on around me to be able to pick it apart. He has led me to ask what am I to learn from this happening and how it can make me more like him. Without getting cliche'd-what would Christ do? Where were his footsteps around this issue.
Our stories are always increasing, and so is our testimony. We defeat the enemy with the words of our testimony, right? That is why we talk to eachother. I have found major growth in myself when others have shared their stories. Christ shows me parts of me through them. (don't know where that came from)
Emmett,
Do you mean that you experience prayer for others as an event to be learned from?
How soes the "shoot first" relate to prayer?
How soes the "shoot first" relate to prayer?
It means that I allow myself to rifle advice before I pray about it, or think to stop the conversation to pray about it even if I am feeling led to pray.
Do you mean that you experience prayer for others as an event to be learned from?
I mean the opportunity to pray for others is an experince to learn more about who Christ sees me as. I can learn to lean more on His knowledge and strength than my own.
My life has consisted of listening to people and throwing advice or making sure that they follow thru. When I was younger, I heard the message that I may never have what I want, because my parents may need to use my money. That turned into, I will need to pay some of the bills in high school to paying medical bills for my father as I attended university full time. I felt that if I let my parents try to survive on their own, they may commit suicide or something like that.
It was a lie that Satan wanted me to believe so I would not embrace that level of faith in Jesus. They're still alive, and my faith is still growing. I have to allow the same faith in my advice vs. prayer first.
Emmett,
Thanks for the details, makes sense. In terms of advice vs. prayer, I know from Scripture and esperience that the Mightly Counselor is ALWAYS with us and answers our questions. What I find hard to do is to humble myself enough in the moment, to overcome my pride and/or anger enough to listen and obey the Spirit.
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