Action vs. Intention

Lately, my heart has been grieved by all of the recent reports that I have heard regarding individuals with physical illness, cancer or other life threatening diseases of the sort. I have crossed paths with each of these people at some point or another. One was my school secretary, another my 3rd grade teacher and most recently was my Sr. Pastor’s daughter. I have found all this out just within the past 2 weeks.

They have recently been added to the list of people that I have agreed to “pray” for. I have committed myself to “pray” daily for Brittany while she is in Cambodia. I have agreed to stand in the gap for several others needing favor, encouragement, provision…and the list goes on. I “pray” for my pastors, my husband, my kids, my life.

Sometimes, I find this to be a real challenge though. I put the word “pray” in quotes because it is so easy for that phrase to become cliché and over-used. It’s so easy that when we hear someone going through a rough time, we automatically say, “I’ll be praying.” But are we really?

I have to make a conscious effort to be a woman of my word when I say that. If I say that I will pray for you, then rest assured I will. But that is only after the tug of war in my heart that rages regarding my integrity and actually doing what I say I will do. And it is only after I specifically schedule time to do so, that it gets accomplished. I have noticed that if I go about my day without making prayer a priority, eventually I forget. I have made promises to people that NEED my prayer on their behalf, and sometimes it is too late before I realize that I have overloaded my realistic list with unrealistic intentions. I have to be cautious not to throw that word around like any other verb.

So, I encourage you to look at your prayer list and turn those intentions into actions. This will cause you to realize the weight behind prayer. Be cognizant of your promises to pray so that prayer doesn’t become just an off-the-cuff comment aimed at providing the hurting individual with a false sense of temporary hope.

“Pray” is an action verb…just a friendly reminder. Who are you praying for today?