Investments

I received sad news the other day.

A little but strong 3 year old boy was taken home to Heaven after a courageous battle.

Now, I didn't have the pleasure of knowing this little hero, or his family. I knew of him through a friend of mine. However, when I heard the news of his passing, it really saddened me. Before I knew it, I had even shed some tears, which honestly surprised me, considering this was someone I had never met. But I realized the reason why this sorrowful news saddened me so much was because I had invested in this little man.

Each time I prayed for him, I was investing in him. In fact, the night before he passed, he was brought up during our church's Ladies' Prayer meeting and the dozen or so of us there all prayed for him and his family. We all invested in him so we are therefore all effected by his death.

There are many ways that we can invest in other people. We can invest our time, our money, our compassion, our wisdom, our history, our future but I realized this week how effective it can be to invest our prayers into someone.

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16

Praying for one another offers us the opportunity to invest in each other in ways that just can't be reached otherwise. We can celebrate in each others' victories and be a comfort in each others' trials.

Monday night, after prayer meeting I got a text from a friend, asking me to pray for them about something that came up in their life. They have a big decision to make in the next month or so and now I have the opportunity to invest in trusting that God will show them what He would have them to do and I get to see how they respond to it. I get to watch and see and partake in the growth of their relationship with God.

How amazing is that?!

I remember a few years ago while a friend of mine was going through college, she asked me to pray for her final exam. I remember we decided to fast and pray over it and I remember being one of the first people she called when she got her passing grade! We went out that night to celebrate. That is a memory I would not have had I not invested that prayer.

Investing prayer into other people also allows you a front-row seat into some of God's great works.

Think of Paul and Silas when they were in prison. The Bible says in Acts 16:25 "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed."

When you keep reading through the following verses it talks about how Paul and Silas, through this earthquake event, were able to witness to the jailor and that night, that jailor became a believer. I love verse 34 in Acts 16, which after the prison guard asked how to be saved and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 34 comes: "And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."

That man sat back and rejoiced with Paul & Silas that night and enjoyed the blessed assurance that comes with salvation but Paul & Silas got to be partakers of this man's joy and rejoicing because they had invested in prayer that night...together.

There is something about praying with some one. I'm not sure if I can fully or adequately describe it but when you ask someone to pray for you about something, you can show a bit of vulnerability sometimes, and it is situations like that that allow us to grow not only closer to God by going to Him in prayer about the situation but we can also grow closer to each other. I love listening to other people pray. It often exposes their heart a bit and gives you a little closer glimpse of their relationship with God and that is a needful thing.

So don't be afraid, Christian, to invest yourself and invest your prayers into others. The benefits are wonderful, memorable and well worthwhile!