Please Pray for Me.

We hear it all the time in the church. At least I hope that we do. We ask a group if there are any prayer requests. And, it seems, there always are a few. Sometime there are very deep needs that require our prayer attention, sometimes we get the feeling that we, as a group, are just trying fill up this spot on the schedule like a disc jockey fills dead air when the traffic report isn't on time. Aren't we supposed to say something? If we don't have any prayer requests something must be wrong! Right?

I spent many years enjoying the fellowship of a group of people that devoutly prayed for each other. Every week when we met prayer requests were noted and prayed for. We were a very close group and we could be honest with each other about any need or any praise that we had (both are equally important in my mind). Each time we met, one elderly lady in the group would always have a prayer request. At times it was almost irritating in how trite some of the request seemed to be. You know the type. The one person that causes everyone in the group to groan inwardly when they stand to say a prayer request. "Please pray for my husband's co-worker's daughter who has a cold." "Please pray for my cousin Joey's son's friend who's car broke down." "Please pray for my sister Verna's cat, Fluffy" Well, OK. I don't think she ever asked for prayer for anybody's pet, but you get the idea.

But how does God see it? Does God have a ranking scale of how important a prayer is? Sometimes it seems that we do. I really don't think God has a priority box and a "round-to-it" file. But sometimes we come to prayer thinking that our problems aren't big enough to warrant God's time. Praise the Lord! If that is the biggest problem you have, please, don't go out and look for trouble just to "improve" your prayer life. But, sometimes we place those same values on the prayer requests of our fellow believers. That is where we walk on dangerous ground.

God implores us in his word to bring all of our burdens to him. Who am I to judge the burdens of this fellow believer? Do I actually think them weaker than I that they bring such small problems to the attention of the group? Are they less secure in their walk with God that they feel a need to bring every little detail to the throne of God through prayer? Weaker? Less secure? There is a weaker one here, but it is not my prayer warrior friend. What incredible strength there is in trusting God with every detail. My friend has a need and desires the prayers of fellow believers. Needs for prayer that have been placed upon their heart in a unique way for the glory of God. Those needs are driven by an incredible faith that no problem is so big, or so small, that it can't be handled by our God. Who am I to judge?

Whether it be the salvation of a friend, or the healing of Uncle Paul's bunion, there is no problem too big for God's help or so small that God would not be concerned. If you feel a burden on your heart to pray for cousin Joey's son's friend or whatever it may be, that burden is there for a purpose and should never be ignored. So pray for me, my friend. Pray that I will see the strength in weakness and have the faith to trust even in the little things in life.