Adding the Prayer on Top

My pastor tends to preach in "series". Recently, we had a series on the "I AM" statements of Christ. That was followed by a series titled "I am Hope Church", designed to help us understand who we are as the church, the body of Christ. 

Every week, Pastor Scooter has issued a challenge. If you accepted and performed the challenge, you could earn a t-shirt. (We don't have a works-based faith, but we do have works-based t-shirts.) The first week, the challenge was to share your testimony with someone inside the church and with someone outside the church. 

I was already scheduled to speak at a nearby church, so that one was easy for me. At Wednesday night Bible study, we had an opportunity to share our testimony "inside". I hopped up, shared, and earned my t-shirt right off. (Yes. I have a long history as an overachiever.)

There have been several challenges. One week, the challenge was to do something nice for someone and pair it with asking, "How can I pray for you?" I was out that Sunday, so I missed the sermon, but I didn't miss the challenge. 

A young man helped me by doing something I didn't know how to do for myself. When we finished discussing it, he asked how he could pray for me. I told him. I asked how I could pray for him. We prayed.

All day, I thought about how sweet he was. How blessed I felt when he prayed for me. How it was so much more like the church Christ intended.

When I do a "good deed", I (in a way) use my own strength and resources. When I pray, I enlist the strength and resources of God Himself, and that's infinitely better than anything I have.

This week, why not accept the Pastor Scooter Challenge for yourself. Find a need and meet it, then ask how you can pray for the person you've helped. Don't just ask how you can pray. Pray. Right then.

It's like the icing on the cake. The sweetest part of all.

"Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16 nasb
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In case you missed it, here's the link to yesterday's post: The Baptism Excitement

Here's the link to the prayer guide: The Prayer List 

Here's the link to my Global Outreach page: Leanna Hollis MD

#helpinghand #pray