Dan You Have Cancer - Prayer Part 4

Previously I wrote about one-on-one prayer between the Holy Trinity and me and what it means to be the one for whom prayers are being offered. I now would like to offer what I have learned about the people who pray for others. I stated that I believe there to be a three way prayer circle also. This circle contains God, the person offering the prayer and the person who is to be the recipient of the blessings achieved by the prayer. I hesitantly say that part about the one receiving the blessings because I have come to the realization that the person praying for another can be blessed as much as the person for whom they are praying.

When you or I tell someone we are praying for them, say it with boldness, mean it with all sincerity. I realize more than ever that I am entering into a ‘Holy Contract’ with that person when I tell them I am “praying for you”. What? I am supposed to mean it and actually do it when I tell someone that I am praying for them. Yes! I now see it as a binding contract between me, that person and God. I am taking a public vow, a public promise to help carry that person’s burden. I am joining with them, standing at their side, watching their back, and in many case carrying them towards tomorrow when they cannot get there on their own. I know as I have now been on both sides of this equation. When I woke up in the mornings of my darkest days and did not see myself making it to evenings tide, it was those prayers, those sacrificial prayers and those prayer warriors that lifted me, carried me and lowered me to the feet of Jesus. I thank God and praise Him for your sacrifice.

When I went to bed at night I’d toss and turn. When I’d give in and set awake in the dark for hours at a time because rest and sleep were nowhere to be found, it was the Simon’s in my life that unselfishly carried my cross for me. My Simon’s unselfishly lifted my beam upon their shoulders so I could find rest. I thank God and praise Him for your sacrifice.

I thank God and praise Him for the sacrificial prayer offered by those whose overflowing prayer list had room for just one more name, Daniel Delp. I thank God and praise Him for your answering of the call to place others before yourself. I thank God and praise Him for your obedience, for doing the very thing for which God created you (Esther 4:14).

Praying for someone is the number one thing you can do for a person. Nothing else even comes close. When you or I pray for someone, something always happens. What I usually see happening is that the answer to our prayer is granted or the grace needed to accept the answer is provided. Not always an explanation or a why but a knowing grace that reaffirms who is really in control in the situation. I understand now more than ever that when I pray for another, I am acknowledging that God is responsible for that person and that He is allowing me to contribute through my prayer.

We are priestly people (1 Peter 2:9). Our priesthood is about offering sacrifices to God. We offer our time. We offer our mental and emotional investments in someone else’s life to God through prayer so that He can do as He pleases.