Category Archives: prayer

how might I pray?

People sometimes ask me how they can pray for me. Not often, but every now and again. I’m very appreciative when they do because I know there is deep sincerity attached to the asking. There’s something about having my name lifted before the throne of heaven that reassures me, connects me, attaches me to the Sacred in stronger measure.

Personally, I think we should ask the question more … be more available with our willingness and our petitions on behalf of one another. We’re good at “saying so”, but are we deliberate with our “doing so”?

Not always. Guilty as charged. My well-meaning isn’t always followed up by my well-doing; I’ve tried to be mindful of that before speaking my allegiance regarding my prayers. I know my human limitations and my frailty where prayer is concerned and, therefore, I try and not make prayer an “offering” of my heart to others unless I’m willing to back it up with my words.

That’s just what works for me. How does it work for you? Is your faithfulness to pray in keeping with your promises to pray? When we say that we will pray, but we don’t, what’s gained? Who wins? What’s the point?

Good intentions?

Our good intentions never land anyone’s needs before the throne of God, at least not from our lips. Saying we’ll pray has become a casual word-toss in our Christian circles. It fits with the rhetoric of a faith journey. But prayer is more than rhetoric. Prayer is the intimate connection between our hearts and our Father’s. Our prayers are the words that pave the road from our spirit to his. What we say to him matters; what we don’t matters as well. It’s all entwined together … our words and our silence. The truest truth of our heart weaves intricately in between the two.

I don’t write these words to lecture you. If anyone needs a good lecturing, it’s me. I simply want to do better in my prayer life; I want to operate my heart from a place of sincere understanding and willingness to stand in your stead in your time of need. I want the same in return.

We give one another a great gift when we move ourselves away from the computer screen, get down on our knees, and spend some time in intentional prayer for each other. Not only are our hearts refreshed, but there is movement that occurs in the heavenlies that might not otherwise happen when our words intersect with the heart of the Father.

And I, for one, could use some heavenly “movement” today. How about you? Are there some things in your life that need a special mention before the throne? I’m asking because I’m committing my heart to prayer in your behalf this week. If you’d like to do the same for me, here are my thoughts in keeping in line with the Apostle Paul’s…

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:19-20).

Do you realize that we’re all chained to something? If I’m going to be chained to anything, I want my chains to link directly back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want my words, my actions, my thoughts, my “going out” and my “coming in”, my lying down and my getting up to be fully entrenched with the ministry of the kingdom.

Sure, there are other needs that are ever-present in my life, but if I could request but one thing for the road ahead, this is it.

A mouth filled with the words of Jesus, fearlessly spoken on behalf of his good name and his good grace. This is how you can pray for me this week. How might I pray for you?

As always,

~elaine

PS: I’ll be MIA for the week, but I will be faithful in my prayers for you. Please leave your requests in the comment section. Shalom.

a night Visitor…

“One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called Samuel.” (1 Samuel 3:2-4).

I’m not a good sleeper, but last night I slept … good. The night colored darker than usual, the sound machine gently lulled my slumber, the overhead ceiling fan operated at full throttle, and there were no boys above me to creak the witness of their presence. I went to bed earlier than usual, tucking myself in with some truth from God’s Word and some audible prayers for the saints.

Sleep was sweet, and then sleep was interrupted. Not by a loud noise or a neighboring dog or even the sound of my husband snoring. No, the culprit behind my “bolt-upright in bed” response was nothing more than the sound of a page turning in my Bible. It lay open by my bed; apparently the breeze created by the ceiling fan forced its movement. In doing so, it forced my notice.

For a few minutes, I became cognizant to the spiritual domain hovering close by. I’m not a mystic, nor do I major on the physical manifestations of the “unseen” dimension that I heartily believe to be at work around us 24/7. But I’ve lived with God long enough and deep enough to realize when he is making a point.

He made one last evening, and before I could forget it, I grabbed the pad of paper and pen that lay bedside and wrote down these words in the dark…

That’s the way our faith is with God. He shows up, pages turn, and the whispers of his grace wake us from our dismal slumber.

As quickly as I was awakened from my slumber, I returned to its embrace. When I awoke this morning, I wondered if my imagination was to blame for my earlier alertness. One quick glance at my notebook told me otherwise. The handwriting was a bit skewed, but the words verified the moment. And this morning, I’m thinking that maybe someone today needs to hear the truth about a “showing up, page turning, whispering grace” kind of God.

Our faith activates his presence. Every time. There is no “maybe” on his part; no “if I feel like it” or “if I’m not busy”. Our God is faithful to arrive upon the scenes of our lives as we are faithful to seek him out. Not just at night (although I think the quiet of evening and the cover of darkness is tailor made for his arrival), but also during the daytime when light is obvious and our senses are most alert to the movement around us.

If God is about anything, he’s about turning the pages of our stories with the idea that a conclusion is fast approaching. We cannot stop his inevitable end to our stories; we can stall the progress toward that end … put up roadblocks and force some heavy editing in the process, but make no mistake. Our books are being written by the very hand of God, and one day soon, ours will shelve alongside the ancients of old where we will spend an eternity, together with them, enraptured by the “read”.

Some of you, today, need for a page to turn in your life. Need the hand of God to reach down from heaven and end the suspense of the preceding paragraphs that have captured your attention for a long season. You desire to move on, to get on with the rest of your story, but you are stuck … mired down in the confusion of some words and with an understanding that refuses to move you on to the next page. Perhaps your strength has waned with the reading, forcing your slumber and your inattentiveness. Perhaps, even your faith has taken a hit.

I understand. I, too, have hosted some seasons of being stuck. I’m afraid I don’t have a ten-step plan or a fifteen-chapter book that will guarantee your success at breaking free from its grip. No, when I walk through times of slumber, times of wishing for the “page to turn” but unable to do so through my own strength, the only thing I know to do is to keep walking … keep refusing the pre-mature end to my story that, apparently, has a chapter or two more to be written.

In those seasons, I simply bring the unfinished product to Jesus, lay it before him, and ask him to move it forward … to move me forward. To reach down from heaven with the whispers of his grace and to blow the pages of my life and the faith of my heart onward.

He’s never disappointed me; he’s always been faithful and deliberate with his showing up. Granted, the progress is sometimes a bit slow for my taste, but even then, I’m willing to concede that my taste and my Father’s are not always equal in their merit. I cannot see the finished product; he can, and so I make a decision to trust him with the pace believing that the end will arrive on time and with the sacred conclusion of my final perfection.

I don’t how this strikes you today; maybe it’s not for you. But for a few of you, those of you whose eyes have grown “weak” and whose perception has grown dim, I want you to know the truth of my late-night encounter with the presence of the living God. When you activate your faith and incline your heart in his direction, he is faithful to reach down from the heavenlies and to turn the pages of your story in perfect keeping with his will.

If you are stuck today, I pray the whispers of God’s grace to be your portion and the witness of his presence to be your comfort. Your story is but one divine breath away from turning its page and moving its words forward into the annals of an everlasting faith. May God grant you the courage and the wisdom to relinquish the pen into his capable hands. As always…

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PS: I didn’t plan on being here today, but then again, I didn’t plan on a night visitor. I don’t know when I’ll be here again; I’m sensing the need to pull away for a few days. Please know that I keep you in my heart throughout the day. You’ve all become a vital and integral part in my faith journey, and I count it a privilege to live in fellowship with you. Enjoy this beautiful day we’ve been given; may the sure and certain presence of our Father find you on the pages of your story this week. Shalom.

Ruby Tuesdays: A Mighty Woman (part six)

“She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.” (Proverbs 31:20).

I carried them last night.

Four names, scrawled onto a scrap sheet of paper just minutes prior to my departure. Four of your names representing four different requests … four different pains … four different hearts from four different homes. Four lovely women in need of one thing…

A great big God who loves them individually and who is well pleased to receive their names and requests before his throne.

I took them there … carried them in my hands and cradled them tenderly during the entirety of our nightly revival gathering so that I wouldn’t forget; hands are a good place to keep things when forgetfulness is our portion. Why?

Because we depend on them; we use them with almost everything that we do. Thus, when I shook hands in fellowship, when I opened up the hymnal to sing, as I cradled the Word of God, and when I bowed my knees at the altar in prayerful pause, I was deliberate in my remembrance of the four lives that I carried within the palm of my hand.

It was my privilege to do so. When lives behind the names are in need, and my hands are tied as to how much I can “do,” then opening my hands up to receive them for my prayerful consideration seems fitting … feels good and walks better.

I can go about my day, occasionally thinking of names; perhaps even scheduling some times of specific prayer therein. That too, is a fitting discipline for the life of a believer. But when needs are pressing in, when the weight of a world’s intrusion falls heavy and full upon a brother or a sister, sometimes the cause of Jesus Christ is better served by dropping our agendas and by picking up the needs of the brokenhearted … immediately.

Not tomorrow. Not when life slows down or becomes more manageable, but now. Today. The twenty-four hours that lie in our wake. Going into a day, we cannot foresee the needs that will present themselves to us, but we can be sure that they will … present themselves. Our goal in that moment of their arrival is to pay attention, to receive them as our own, and then to fill our hands with a doing that will seed eternal rather than temporal.

That seeding plants in a variety of ways.

Fixing a meal.
Working the carpool line.
Making a phone call.
Writing a note.
Running to the grocery.
Sitting bedside with a loved one.
Sitting beside to a stranger.
Wrapping a need with a hug.
Folding two hands in prayer.

Regardless of the doing, a “mighty woman”—a person of noble character worthy of ruby’s bestowing—is a person who fills his/her hands with the needs of another and who can be trusted with their worth.

Needs are worthy of more than our casual commitment and pleasant platitudes. Needs are worthy of our trust—our reliable convictions that lead us to active participation rather than passive inactivity.

Thus, I carried them last night. Four names. Four of your names to the gathering of the saints in eastern North Carolina, where not only our hearts were revived, but also where your names were presented before the King for his good and holy consideration. Your needs were carried; your needs were heard. Your needs were received by the One and only God who can best service your heart in this difficult and uncertain season.

Some of you have carried my name to Jesus in recent days. Some of you have “picked up” on a few of the signals via my writings and called me to let me know that are cradling my heart before the Father (thank you Sassy…). Some of you have sent e-mails, said some prayers, and have taken me seriously when I asked for your consideration.

You bless me by your sincerity. It is more than I deserve, and yet it is exactly as God intends.

We are the body of Christ; our hands were meant for the helping, for the receiving, and for the carrying of one another’s burdens. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for the times when you have carried mine. It brings me joy and peace to do the same for you. Thus, I pray…

Show me, Father, how I can help my friends. Keep my hands and my heart open to receive the needs of others as they present themselves. Give me the wisdom and grace to willingly embrace the gift of their trust and then keep me mindful of that trust as I go and as I do. Thank you for placing my life within the palm of your hands; may I always be found faithful in leading others to your embrace. Amen.

Copyright © May 2009 – Elaine Olsen

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PS: Join us over at Refreshmoments for more Ruby Tuesdays’ posts. Let me know how I can pray for you today.

In addition, I wanted to let you know about our blogging sister, Denise, who recently lost her blog, “Teacups and Time” for some unknown reason. Can you even imagine that, friends, losing your blog? You can find her at her new address, A Sacred Longing. I know she’d love a visit from friends, new and old.

My God is my Oath

My God is my Oath

Update on Beth…
The doctors were able to remove a large portion of the tumor growing on one of Beth’s vertebra. Follow up radiation treatment will begin after she’s had a brief period of recovery. She is in a tremendous amount of pain and had a very restless night of sleep. Thank you, my blogging friends, for being the body of Christ to her and her family in the past 24 hours. They remain in need of our prayerful petitions. Let’s also remember our friend, Joy, as she has received word of her father’s similar diagnosis only yesterday. I know that she would appreciate a note of encouragement. Our God is our Oath. Shalom.
Beth & grandson

This is a day of need.

In my life, in yours, and in the lives of those we love.

We are a needy people, and without the cross of Christ to guide us through our wanton estate, all hope is lost. Period.

I just received one of the most sacred pleas for help I’ve ever read. My friend has emailed me from the confines of her hospital room, and she is afraid. She’s facing an immediate and necessary surgery this afternoon because of a cancerous tumor that has wrapped itself around the top of her spine. She’s been battling cancer for six years now; I’ve not known her beyond her cancer years. She landed in my lap when we landed here as her parsonage family.

The first Sunday we met, she had on her pink, and I remember her telling me to “sit down” on the couch outside the fellowship hall so that she could get to know me better. I immediately resonated with her “take charge, no nonsense” kind of personality. We’re a bit like-minded in that way.

Since that time, Beth has walked with me through ten Bible studies and been my friend despite my many foibles along the way. She is genuine, raw and real, and as authentic as they come. You never have to guess where you stand with Beth, and I like that. She lives out loud, and she lavishly loves the life that she lives.

And friends, she wants some more of this life to live.

Hers has not been an easy road. Some of her journey mirrors mine. Still and yet, her faith continually roots her … returns and restores her to the only God who perfectly loves her. I have quietly watched her walk her cancer. We’ve buried two of our Bible study friends in the five years we’ve been doing life together for similar reasons. It’s not an easy walk and one that I am sure is more difficult for her to step than me.

She lives with her disease. I don’t, at least not physically. But she has graciously given me a window into the life of her suffering, and I consider it a privilege to be a carrier of her pain. Thank God for the embrace of another’s pain. Without it, we become removed … cold and distant and separated from the call of Jesus Christ to be his body to the broken.

Beth is broken today. I bet that there are some of you who feel the same; if not you, then someone you love. Thus, our Father asks of us—those of us who are able bodied and spirit-filled willing—

What will you do with the pain?

I tell you what I did and will continue to do throughout the day and in the weeks to come. I bring it before the throne room of heaven and pray believing that my God is able to supply all of my needs … all of Beth’s needs … according to his riches in glory.

Not his leftovers. Not his cast-offs. Second-rate doesn’t fit with our King. There’s nothing random or haphazard about his approach to our lives. Rather our Father longs for his riches to be our portion. Riches from his storeroom of goodness that are ready and willing to explode upon the scenes of our lives simply because we believe that our God is eager to do so and because we are wise enough to ask.

Why sit on our “hopes” today? Why not speak them to the One who is able to deliver?

This is the day of need. Not tomorrow. Not next week, or even next year. Today is the only day we’ve been given. All other days will take care of themselves accordingly.

And today, my friend needs my prayers. I imagine that she would be blessed to receive a few of yours too. You don’t know her, but I do and that is enough to warrant our pause before the King. I know that your list is already a mile long. But if you wouldn’t mind, could you simply speak her name to Jesus today?

Beth. She whose name means “my God is my oath.” May the faith of her name be the faith of her heart this day. May it be yours also. If our God is anything (and I happen to think that He IS everything), he is the God of promise … of covenant … of oath.

Let’s take him at his Word in this moment.

As always,

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