Prayer Network

Prayer is vital for our health and for the health of our church family.  I encourage everyone to have a network of people they can call or text or email to get instant prayer support when they need it.   Prayer is a direct line to God who hears and who cares about us and about our concerns. 

For as long as I have been attending our church (since 1995) there has been a Prayer Chain.  It used to be a typed list of people and phone numbers.   The chapel directory was split into 3rds and there were 3 women who each were responsible for a 1 of the 3 lists.  You could call any of the 3 women with your prayer request and they would contact the other 2 and all 3 would start by calling the next person on their list.  Once they passed the prayer request on, the next person was responsible for calling the person after them on the list and thus went the prayer request- traveling through a chain of callers until everyone on the list had been reached and all were praying.  The method has changed with the advent of technology.   Now, our prayer chain is sent in a group email to everyone who has requested to be included in the chain and provided an email address where they can receive an email from one of our elders. 

I had never heard of a prayer chain before I attended this church and I had visited a number of churches before I settled on this one.  I met my husband at this church and together we lived in 3 other states before settling back in the place we started.  We have visited many churches in the past 26 years of our marriage and not a single one had a prayer chain that we were made aware of.  I don't think the Prayer Chain is unique to our church but in this day and age it IS unique among the majority of churches.

I love that our church has this prayer chain network and I highly recommend that everyone assemble a network of prayer warriors they can contact whenever they need prayer.   We still have a weekly Prayer meeting as well and a list goes out every Wednesday morning with the names of 4 of our church families (different each week - taken from our church directory), the name of the speaker who will be bringing the message the following Sunday,  the names of people in our larger church family with chronic illnesses or long-term needs (I'm on that list), names of our Sunday school kids, letters received that week with news and prayer requests  from the missionaries our church supports, etc. to be used as a prayer guide at the prayer meeting Wednesday evening.

We are commanded in scripture to pray continually in I Thessalonians.  We are urged in scripture to pray for eachother and to carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

But how can we do this if we aren't aware of the needs?  I've noticed recently that our prayer chain isn't used as frequently as I think it should be.  People appear to be trying not to burden others with their serious health concerns, injuries or other crises.  I have personally known people fighting serious cancer battles that never requested to have their health situation relayed through our prayer chain.  People who have specifically refused to allow their situation to be shared publicly.   I do understand the desire for privacy but the nitty gritty details of a situation aren't necessary to request prayer.   You don't have to specify the illness or the details of an injury or other serious situation to ask for prayer about treatment options, strength, comfort, wisdom, healing, pain relief and/or peace.  

I don't understand why people don't value the power that robust prayer support can have on their individual struggles. Sadly, sometimes I think it's just that people, in the midst of their struggles, don't think of asking for prayer from anyone outside their immediate families - if at all. 

My lifeline is prayer and my Rock, my Shelter, my Foundation, my Strong Tower is the One who promises to answer those prayers. I want as many people as are willing to pray for me and my family as we navigate the challenges of MS and of life in general.  

And if you need prayer,  reach out to me in the comments below- even anonymously - and I WILL pray for you!