First of all, I ask you to pray for everyone. Ask God to help and bless them all, and tell God how thankful you are for each of them. (1 Timothy 2:1, CEV)
As a mother, I’ve had times when God has prompted me to pray for one or both of my daughters, though at those exact moments, I had no idea why I felt compelled to pray.
And God doesn’t always let you know why He is calling on you to pray. Sometimes you never know. And, sometimes you find out later.
That’s what happened this past summer when I learned that at the exact moment God had urged me to pray for Abby, she had almost been in a very serious automobile accident.
The key word in that sentence is “almost.” I truly believe that angels picked up her little VW Bug and moved it out of the way of that oncoming car. As she relayed the details of her near accident later that afternoon, I was so thankful that I had listened, obeyed and prayed.
The world calls that “a mother’s intuition.”
We Christian mamas call it God.
I had lunch with another Christian mama this past week and she shared an amazing testimony of when God awakened her at 3 a.m., concerning her son–a proud U.S. soldier–who was serving his first tour in Afghanistan.
She and her husband were sound asleep when she heard what sounded like machine guns going off in her bedroom. At first she thought they had fallen asleep with the TV blaring a war movie of some kind, but when she looked up, the TV was off.
Just then, she heard that still, small voice say, “Pray for your son right now.”
Immediately, she began praying the 91st Psalm over her son–a passage of scripture she knew by heart. Though she thought she was praying quietly, her husband woke up and asked, “Who are you talking to?”
“I’m praying,” she said. “God told me to pray for our son.”
“That’s so strange,” he answered, “because I was sure I heard him calling, ‘Dad! Dad!’ just a few minutes ago. It sounded like he was in this room calling for me.”
The two of them joined hands right there in bed and began praying the 91st Psalm together, praying a hedge of protection around him wherever he was at that very moment.
They prayed until they felt a peace come over them, and then fell back asleep knowing that God was taking care of their soldier.
The next day, my friend recorded the night’s events in her journal so she wouldn’t forget to ask her son if anything had happened on that particular night that God had called them to pray.
It was about three weeks later before their son was able to call home, and boy were they happy to hear his voice at the other end of the line.
So excited to talk to him, they totally forgot to ask if anything had happened on that night when God had called them to pray. But just before he hung up, he quietly shared about an encounter he’d had his very first week in Afghanistan.
He said that he and a few of his fellow soldiers were just leaving the mess hall when the Taliban fired on them.
“I could feel the bullets whizzing past my head,” he shared. “My Sergeant was standing right next to me, and one of the bullets tore through him, Mom. He died in my arms that day…God saved me. I know He did.”
As it turns out, the morning that God had awakened my friend and her husband was the exact time their son was coming out of that mess hall.
I’ve thought about this story several times since our lunch together last week, and every time I think about it, I have to stop and praise the Lord for His goodness and mercy. I’m so thankful that God cares enough about the people I care about to wake up the prayer warriors when prayer is needed.
And, I’m so grateful to be one of His on-call prayer warriors.
There have been times when God has awakened me to pray for someone I barely know, yet I will pray for that person the same way I pray for my girls whenever God prompts me, because I know the person I’m praying for is somebody’s child, and most importantly, that person is a child of God.
What about you? Are you an on-call prayer warrior for God? When He wakes you up to pray for your family or someone you hardly know, do you just roll back over and say, “I’ll pray in the morning,” or do you get up and pray right then?
As you can see from the stories I’ve shared here, sometimes your prayer could be the difference between life and death. So, let’s make a commitment today to be on-call prayer warriors, ready to pray anytime, anywhere, for anyone.
Pray this with me now:
Father, thank You for alerting Your prayer warriors on my behalf, as I know You have many times. And, Lord, please use me as one of Your on-call prayer warriors. Help me to be sensitive to Your voice and quick to obey the call to prayer. In the Mighty Name of Your Son Jesus, Amen.
