A little over a month ago, I saw a flyer at the Post advertising a fundraiser for a 2 year old boy in Taylor. His name is Matthew, and he suffers from a tumor in one of his eyes. His aunt (Shirley) owns the Rio Wraps in Taylor, so I took them money to her personally to support the fund raiser. That was a month ago.
Last night, I ate at the same Rio Wraps on duty and asked how the fundraiser went. The girls behind the food counter said it went well and told me Shirley in one of the back rooms of the restaurant. She came to the front to talk to me.
As I talked to Shirley about Matthew, I saw it was very difficult for her to relay the story to me. Tears formed in her eyes and her voice cracked. She said doctor’s removed one of Matthew’s eyes and replaced it with a glass eye. She said doctors believe the tumor has recently spread to Matthew’s other eye and brain. Little Matthew is now blind.
After talking with Shirley for about 5 minutes or so, and as I saw the tears in her eyes, I asked Shirley if I could pray with her. Not simply FOR her, but WITH her. She nodded her head and held her hands to her face, shielding me from her now-falling tears. I prayed a short prayer right there in the restaurant with her, and when I finished she wrapped her arms around me, put her head on my shoulders, and cried. And cried, and cried, and cried. I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. I just comforted Shirley for those few raw moments. Neither of us seemed to care much about whatever else was going on around us.
I tell this story not to pat myself on the back or give myself kudos. I did nothing all that great, to be honest. I was simply obedient. About a year ago I encountered a situation where I sensed a prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray with a certain guy. I didn’t pray with him, but chalked up the prompting to thinking I was weird. After the encounter, though, I felt sick to my stomach knowing that my disobedience grieved the Spirit. I later prayed for him by myself, hoping to make up for my crime, but I knew I had still failed by not praying with him. I determined to never do that again. I vowed to pray with someone – wherever, whenever – the Spirit seemed to be prompting me to do so.
I have never had anybody say, “No”, when I asked if I could pray with them. I honestly think they crave it deep down inside, even those who are not Believers. Not only do people need prayer, most want it. I think it’s cheap to tell a person, “Hey, I’ll keep you in my prayers” because I’m sure they think, “Yeah, right. You’ll forget about my situation before your head hits the pillow tonight.” And they would probably be right. C’mon, think about it. How many times have you told somebody the same thing and forgot all about praying for them?
While intercessory prayer has its place, I think if at all possible we ought to pray WITH others, and not simply FOR others.
