Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.- James 5:16
I’m somewhat of a podcast addict. I’ll listen to 10-15 podcasts each week. This past week I heard one that has stayed with me for days.
Craig McConnell is one of the bloggers for John Eldredge’s Ransomed Heart ministry. During one of their recent podcasts, entitled The Story You Find Yourself In, he spoke about how he’s going through a recurrence of cancer, and how God is teaching him to pray for others even when he’s in the middle of deep physical and emotional suffering himself. Around the 11 minute mark he says:
“It feels cruel- when you’re suffering- that God would ask you to put your eyes and focus your attention on others…There’s no exemptions to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love others… When you suffer you feel justified to be preoccupied with yourself. Understandably so. To some degree, necessarily so. And yet in my pain and suffering, God came and said, “I want you to- in your pain and suffering- to love others.” And what felt cruel initially ended up turning into this rich communion with God, where I felt like this must be some of what the cross felt like for Christ. The absolute severe physical and personal pain of the crucifixion, and yet He’s concerned for the hearts and lives of others. And his whole heart is turned towards others.”
Did that take your breath away like it did mine? “When you suffer you feel justified to be preoccupied with yourself.”
Isn’t that so true? I know this has been such a struggle during infertility. My heart is so heavy and so wounded that it’s hard sometimes to find room for others and carry their burdens, too.
But our ultimate example is Christ, and when He was in the middle of doing the most difficult thing anyone had ever done (the crucifixion), He prayed for others: “Father, forgive them…” (Luke 23:34).
In our own pain, we can pray for others out of duty, or we can choose to use our prayers as a means of inviting God into our pain even further. It will take tremendous strength to pray during our own time of need, but God will come through and strengthen us in the process.
I encourage you to listen to the entire podcast. It’s only about 20 minutes long and is so incredibly inspiring and insightful. It’s available for free online at the Ransomed Heart podcast page or on iTunes (link will launch iTunes).
Pick one or two people to pray for today. Spend some time asking God to give them what they need, and to help you be others-focused even in the midst of your own pain.
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Lisa, I have enjoyed seeing a post from you in my inbox every day during the month of October! I’ll miss that! So thankful for you, and yes, this was breathtaking thinking of how Jesus was in the most intense, unbearable pain of His life, but the only thing He cared about in those moments was finishing the entire atonement for the sins of the very ones who were putting Him to death. His whole life was about others, and ours should be, too. There will always be suffering in our lives, in one form or another, and reaching out to others DURING that is very liberating. I am still praying for you often and believing God for your upcoming miracle. 🙂
Thank you, Cheryl. I know you are one of my most faithful prayer warriors, and I appreciate that more than you know!