It will take you more time to read this blog today than it will to do what I am going to challenge you to do.
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone (1 Ti 2:1., NIV)
We are going to choose to take this verse literally, well because we don't have a logical reason not to. We begin with the word "urge", it shows importance, or something we really should do. Following that is "first of all", that shows a sequence. This is telling us in a list of importance what is one of the most significant and important things we can do. So the question then comes what is it we should do? The answer is in the verse "requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made". In other words pray. Pray.... OK for who.... Again the answer is found in the verse: everyone. We think we have this in our lives covered don't we.
We pray for our family, friends, church people, co workers, neighbors, leaders, we pray for people that are mentioned on facebook, twitter, instagram, and other social media. We pass prayer requests along in email, texts, and phone. Which is all good mind you, but this covers people we know, or friends and family of people we know. What about people we don't know, they matter too. If we take the verse literally that we are to for everyone, it includes those we know but also don't know. How is that even possible to do... one person at a time.
My family and I have begun to practice something when we eat out. Now granite keep in mind we are lucky if we eat out once a week, but still... Anyway. We ask our server, whether we know them or not how we can pray for them. Specifically I tell the server, "My family and I are getting ready to pray, so I am wondering is there something we can pray for you about." It's non threatening, shows my children I'm serious about prayer, I'm serious about my faith, but most importantly it shows our server that we as a family care as well. The awesome thing about this is that now if I forget (and yes I do) my children remind me. How awesome is that....
Today at lunch we went to an establishment for lunch and I asked the young lady serving us how we could pray for her. Chelsea was her name. Chelsea gave me a few prayer requests and thanked me several times for asking her saying it was very thoughtful and it made her day. Then she said something else, which really troubled me. Chelsea said that she had waited tables for several years and is getting ready to graduate UNCA, but in those several years (thousands of customers) not one single person has asked her how they can pray for her. I also have a close friend that waited tables (Myjenta) and I asked her how many customers have ever offered to pray for her. Her response was just you and Jamie (Jamie Johnson of Crossfire). Kudos to you Jamie, but shame on us as believers.
We have been doing this for about a year, maybe longer, so this is now at the least 52 people that we have prayed for that are outside the circle of our friends and family, That is 52 people closer to everyone, 52 that every single one of them where generally thankful that we took the time to ask, and 52 people we had personal contact with for Jesus. You also get to meet people beyond the casual conversation, and you never know the difference that one little question will make in someone's life.
My challenge for you is this, the next time you eat out take less than a minute and ask your server how you can pray for them, and please make sure you tip them too....
Then I would love to hear from you about how your experience went, how they reacted, maybe their name and how I can pray for them, revclreese@gmail.com; can't wait to hear from you...
Chris
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