A Little Black Book

I am so happy to be back with you all again. Finally! I lost most of the month of December, as I was battling the Covid-19 virus. It really knocked the stuffing out of me. I am so blessed to have a loving and attentive wife who took very good care of me. Renée ended up getting it as well, but praise God, her case was not as severe.

This was the sickest I had been in fifty-two years. You see, I am old enough to remember when I caught the Hong Kong flu, which raged through the United States in 1968. That was horrible too. I was not really afraid of dying. As I have said, according to the CDC, the survival rate of Covid-19 is over 98%, however, there were moments when I may have said, “Lord, if you want me, take me now!”  

My purpose today, however, is not to give you a play-by-play of my eighteen days of misery. Rather, I want to share how encouraging it was to know so many people were praying for both Renée and I. Nothing is as effective as the power of prayer – not Mucinex, Tylenol, or Oxymetazoline hydrochloride (nose spray). Just to know so many of my brothers and sisters-in-Christ were petitioning God on my behalf was so reassuring to me. It reminded me that when we say we are going to pray for someone or something, we really need to follow through.

Sometimes, with all the best of intentions, we quickly say to someone, “I will pray for you.” Often, we say so because we hear this person’s situation as we are leaving church or when we bump into them at the grocery store. But by the time we get to the car, the chaos that is everyday life has already moved us on to the next thing. The Bible says, “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them” (1 Timothy 2:1). We mean to, but we forget. We get busy, or were we going to really do it at all? It’s so easy to say, “I’ll pray for you,” but will we? I mean, they won’t know whether we do or not.

I’ll tell you what I do. I have a tiny little black book that fits in my pants pocket. When someone asks me for prayer, I take out my book and write it down. I also have a small pen that is attached to my key chain. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t need to know something in the next ten minutes, I have a tendency to forget it.  I make it a point to check my little black book every day.

Prayer is our fiercest weapon against the enemy and all things in this fallen world. Priscilla Shirer, who starred in the 2015 film War Room wrote, “Prayer is the portal that brings the power of heaven down to earth. It is kryptonite to the enemy and to all his ploys against you.”

So, if it would help, get yourself a little book for your pants pocket or purse. Write down prayer requests – yours or someone else’s. Then, remember to check it daily and follow through. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them. The power of prayer is, quite simply, the power of God, who hears and answers prayer.    

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Remember to email your praises and petitions to southchurchprayer@gmail.com. We lift them up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 4:00 pm on Facebook Live.