Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada and it’s time for Joni and Friends!
And if I haven’t said it recently, thank you so much for spending these few short minutes with me – I know I sure enjoy it, and I hope you do, too, as together we just strengthen each other in our trials. How about it? As we look to God for help and hope. I want to tell you a little bit about a prayer meeting I attended recently – I was new to this group and so I laid back a bit and allowed others to enjoy the privilege and opportunity to pray. Well, while I was observing and listening I couldn’t help but notice how many petitions, how many requests there were – requests for healing from diseases or illnesses, requests for finances, requests for jobs. Now, I know it’s natural that people would want prayer for good health, financial blessing, and a better job – and it’s natural for friends to pray that way. But a closer look at God’s Word is going to reveal something deeper and something far more divinely inspired. Different ways to pray when someone is dealing with an illness or having trouble with money or in need of a job…
Take for instance, let’s think of cancer. Of course, prayer for healing is in order, yes, but so are the robust blessings of praying Psalm 119:140 over that person: like, “Your promises have been thoroughly tested, Lord God, and your servant loves them.” So with that Scripture in mind, how much richer it is to pray for a friend who has cancer: “Lord Jesus, this cancer is testing your promises in the life of my friend who is sick right now, but you’re faithful to every promise you’ve made to her, and may she come to love your promises as she’s being thoroughly tested through and through every chemotherapy treatment and every doctor’s report.” See what I mean? Just take a portion of Scripture and use it as a basis for your prayer. Wow, what a way to employ the Word of God in your intercessions!
Or let’s say that there’s a need for finances. Yes, a request for money is in order, of course, but so are the rewards of Proverbs 15:17 where it says, “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.” And so you might pray: “Lord, financial blessing isn’t the focus; your Word says that love should be the focus. So I’m asking you that my financially strapped friend would learn how to ‘live on little’ if it means leaning harder on you.” See what I mean? Again, a prayer like that has in it the fabric of God’s Word, and you know you can’t go wrong in prayer when you lace your request with a biblical perspective – you know your prayer is in God’s will when you offer it that way.
That’s the way I pray for children with disabilities. I take that passage of Scripture in Matthew 19 where Jesus tells the disciples to let the little children come to him… and so I pray: “O, Lord Jesus, when you walked on earth, your heart went out to boys and girls, I can just picture you back then welcoming a little child on crutches or a little boy who was blind. If your heart went out to boys and girls who could walk up to you and see you… how much more must your heart overflow toward my little friend Jeannette with spina bifida and Benjamin who is blind and has cerebral palsy. Today may they feel – really feel – your hand of blessing upon them.” Again, see what I mean? It’s a great way to pray, using God’s Word as a springboard for every request.
I’ve written about this in a booklet entitled “Speaking God’s Language” and if you’ll go to joniandfriendsradio.org right now, you’ll get a free copy in the mail. Just ask for “Speaking God’s Language.”
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JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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