Your Pain IS my Pain
1 Cor 12:24 But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
I have so many times hesitated to ask for prayer because my needs seemed so much less than those who seemed to be "truly" suffering. How can I complain about my pain when there are brothers and sisters in my local church who are confined to a wheel chair, or a walker, or etc? Or how can I cry about my bills when there are people who are struggling to feed themselves or their children? Are you seeing my predicament?
Well I have been in almost all of those places. Not fun. It never, I will say it again, it N E V E R feels good to experience the suffering. There are many scriptures about suffering, some of which you have read or heard quoted to you. In the interest of time, here are some of the major ones in case you are unfamiliar or have not read them recently. They will bring you comfort. Rom 5:3-4, 8:18; Phil 1:29; James 1: 2-3 But what a privilege it was for me to be able to pray for someone who is going through a struggle. There I was going through these trials, feeling trapped, useless, and spiritually stymied. I was and have been given the opportunity to take my focus off my own woes and pray for someone else going through a trial. Prayer is easy right? But I have to explain that if you don't believe prayer works, then this won't comfort you. Pray anyway. They still need it and God still honors it.
So what am I trying to tell you? I am trying to tell you that there is no purpose in comparing your needs to mine or someone else's. God gives each of us our own trials at the level He is trying to accomplish in us or someone else. He gives you the trial but he commands us to pray for you regardless of the intensity of the trial. A lost set of keys for a single mom who can't be late for work can be as stressful to her as a severe round of arthritis pain can be for me. We don't get to make that call! We are however called to pray and love each other. So when you think your prayer needs are minimal compared to others and you don't post them, you are denying us the ability to be comforted in praying for you as well as denying us the ability to behave in the manner we have been created and commanded to do. Not to mention, you still face the trial and now will face it alone.
The only caution I will give is to make sure you go to God first. He desires to hear from you and it may be He hasn't in a while so He is getting your attention. Please! Please, do not take this a general reason to all prayer problems. We live complex lives even though God makes it simple from His end. I would never state nor believe that I could possibly know His mind or how or why he chooses to answer prayers in the manner He does or why he chooses the trials He allows. I have tasted His love. So have you.
So, to make a long story longer, pray, pray, pray! Then let us pray with you and don't worry about the severity, or lack thereof, of your requests.
I have so many times hesitated to ask for prayer because my needs seemed so much less than those who seemed to be "truly" suffering. How can I complain about my pain when there are brothers and sisters in my local church who are confined to a wheel chair, or a walker, or etc? Or how can I cry about my bills when there are people who are struggling to feed themselves or their children? Are you seeing my predicament?
Well I have been in almost all of those places. Not fun. It never, I will say it again, it N E V E R feels good to experience the suffering. There are many scriptures about suffering, some of which you have read or heard quoted to you. In the interest of time, here are some of the major ones in case you are unfamiliar or have not read them recently. They will bring you comfort. Rom 5:3-4, 8:18; Phil 1:29; James 1: 2-3 But what a privilege it was for me to be able to pray for someone who is going through a struggle. There I was going through these trials, feeling trapped, useless, and spiritually stymied. I was and have been given the opportunity to take my focus off my own woes and pray for someone else going through a trial. Prayer is easy right? But I have to explain that if you don't believe prayer works, then this won't comfort you. Pray anyway. They still need it and God still honors it.
So what am I trying to tell you? I am trying to tell you that there is no purpose in comparing your needs to mine or someone else's. God gives each of us our own trials at the level He is trying to accomplish in us or someone else. He gives you the trial but he commands us to pray for you regardless of the intensity of the trial. A lost set of keys for a single mom who can't be late for work can be as stressful to her as a severe round of arthritis pain can be for me. We don't get to make that call! We are however called to pray and love each other. So when you think your prayer needs are minimal compared to others and you don't post them, you are denying us the ability to be comforted in praying for you as well as denying us the ability to behave in the manner we have been created and commanded to do. Not to mention, you still face the trial and now will face it alone.
The only caution I will give is to make sure you go to God first. He desires to hear from you and it may be He hasn't in a while so He is getting your attention. Please! Please, do not take this a general reason to all prayer problems. We live complex lives even though God makes it simple from His end. I would never state nor believe that I could possibly know His mind or how or why he chooses to answer prayers in the manner He does or why he chooses the trials He allows. I have tasted His love. So have you.
So, to make a long story longer, pray, pray, pray! Then let us pray with you and don't worry about the severity, or lack thereof, of your requests.
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