Push past the crowd 🙏🏽🙏🏽

 

     

   Growing up I saw my grandmother constantly praying for her children, grandchildren and anyone she ever met. I didn’t understand the why of that then. It was a routine scene in my household to see my mom praying on her knees with tears even before my parents had the ‘born again’ experience. I had the privilege of inviting Christ into my heart in my early teen years. Prayer was something my parents and grandparents did daily, routinely, without fail. And so, I learned to pray. Without prayer, my days felt empty, almost scary – that something will go wrong if I didn’t pray. It all started out of ‘fear of the bad happenings’. After I welcomed Christ into my heart and learned to enjoy the presence of Jesus personally, I loved my time in prayer. It mostly consisted of praise and submitting my requests to God. Crying in His presence for answers to my problems. I learned this at a very young age. Years passed by, and my dad became a prayer warrior. He prayed for any person he ever met. He prayed for hours, early in the morning. In my adult years I depended on my parents’ prayers for everything. As they got older, and their health deteriorated, I realized they are unable to pray as much as they did. Something stirred inside me; a fear of - who will intercede for my children if my parents couldn’t. I did nothing about this thought for years… but the thought remained and later turned to worry. I asked God in my short prayer sessions to give me a heart to intercede. I prayed for a change of heart..for years!

            Lately I learned, no prayer is gone unanswered especially when it is in the will of God. God taught me to intercede for others. I found that my heart was burdened for the things that broke His heart.  I cried when I heard another’s pain – without effort. I was awakened in the wee hours of the night by the Holy Spirit to pray for people – sometimes people I didn’t even talk to routinely. I prayed for acquaintances, strangers, people who I have never met and only heard about. And my heart broke for their pain. This became my passion. Luke 5:17 – 20 talks about four men who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus on a mat. They were probably on their way to see Jesus and saw this man - helpless. The passage doesn’t say they came together, it could be one of them wanted to help the poor man and asked the others if they could join in. Each of them was willing to carry a corner to help the man. They were not discouraged to leave the man when they saw the crowd but were crazy enough to go to the extent of breaking the roof of the building to help the man. My mind wandered on the question of ‘what if’. What if - one of them were not willing to carry a corner? What if - one of them thought it was crazy to break the roof to lower the man to Jesus? What if - one of them turned away when they saw the crowd? Who would I be? Am I willing to carry a corner for someone in need? Am I willing to go all the way, the extra mile? Or am I the one who will back off when I see a hindrance? Am I willing to push past the crowd for a sister or brother in need?

             

Many people pray for others and stand in the gap. But when faced with a difficult situation, many would give up. Some would say ‘may be next time’. Some would just wait outside hoping Jesus will see them when He came out. But these 4 men had a mission. They had radical faith! Their focus was not in being recognized, but purely hoped to get the man healed and they believed Jesus could; if only they could get to Him! How do I carry my side of the corner? Do I live a life that would inspire others to carry their side of the corner? Am I willing to stand in alignment of the burden placed in my heart by the Holy Spirit? Or am I living in a world completely consumed with me - my life, my problems, my recognition and my priorities? Who is the woman I would choose to be? Will I stand in radical faith for others? Just as Jesus thought of me, giving His life on the cross and owning all my wrongdoings – the past, present and the future, so that in Him I may become the righteousness of God. May my heart be willing to push past the crowd in obedience.

Written by:

Anu Varghese