A WORD FOR TODAY, October 26, 2021
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, October 26, 2021
“Simon and those who were with him searched for him. They found him and told him, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’ He said to them, ‘Let’s go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason.’ He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.” Mark 1:35-39, WEB
My trip to my hometown in August was filled with visits with people I don’t get to see very often. Top of my list was a woman who has been my Christian mentor for decades. She was there from my teenage years and still loves and supports my faith as she is able. She is 96 years old and lives in a nursing home. She was always very active, she always in the midst of church activities, particularly those with children and youth. I have visited her several times since she’s had to slow down and she misses the action. She has told me several times, “All I can do is pray.”
I saw a meme today that said, “Grandma’s prayers are the reason some of us are here.” I have assured my friend that her prayers are necessary and appreciated by those of us who are on her prayer list. She thinks she is not doing anything, but she has raised up a generation or two of Christians who are continuing the work that Christ began through her. Her vocation now is to pray.
In 1978, Mrs. Flossie Cassel wrote an article ministry in a nursing home. She was ninety-one at the time and was active in teaching classes and doing other speaking engagements. She began her ministry when she started receiving prayer requests from missionaries, which she took before the Lord three times a day. She had heard a speaker talk about tithing time as well as money, so she asked the Lord how she could serve Him. She heard Him say that she should pray three hours a day. So, that day she began praying an hour in the morning, an hour in the afternoon and an hour in the evening.
Eventually her other ministries took up too much time. She wrote, “I began to slip up on my prayer time in the afternoon. Soon I was too ill to teach or speak.” She waited patiently in prayer for God to tell her why she was unable to teach or speak. She realized that God would not let her return to those ministries until she got back on track to the three hours a day she had committed to prayer. She asked forgiveness and promised, by the help of the Holy Spirit, to never forget and at ninety-one she was still ministering through prayer from her nursing home room.
We rely on the prayers of those like my friend whose vocation has become lifting us in prayer, but that does not mean we can stop praying. Our time alone with God in prayer is the most important part of our day. Jesus was often difficult to find because He went to a quiet place to pray. It was during that time spent with His Father that He got His strength to go on with His ministry to the people. Time alone was necessary to build Him up to face the challenges; it is where He grew in wisdom and understanding of His purpose. He knew that nothing should stand in the way of that time alone with His Father. He knew to find a place where He could pray without distractions, to be in God’s presence and to hear His voice.
We need to be like Jesus, never letting the work of our lives get in the way of time spent with our Father. By spending time in conversation with God, we are built up with the strength, courage and wisdom to walk in faith each day. Morning, noon, and night is the perfect time to sit quietly with God is a private place. These are times when we can ask God to bless our work, recall our failures, ask for forgiveness, and receive the blessings of faith. Mrs. Flossie Cassel put the other ministries ahead of her times of prayer, and she became sick. We all allow the distractions of the world to get in our way.
I have heard it said that many ‘walk in prayer’ all day long, that their method of prayer is to talk to God in the midst of their other activities. While this is a lifestyle we should all live, we also need that time away, alone in a solitary place. We can’t hear God as we are always talking to Him on the run. Take time each day to be alone with God in prayer, talking and listening to Him for He is always willing to listen but He also has something to say.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org.
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