HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH!

While pegging the clothes to the line, I considered, ‘How can I do more for the Lord’, as is so often asked? This question often arises following a time of particular blessing. But what do we mean by ‘more for the Lord.’ Does that mean more activity, meetings, rushing about? God forbid!

In days of rush and hurry, the message hanging above my kitchen sink burns into my thinking, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’ How does the warm-hearted woman with a desire for her Lord practise it in some particular way.

In a recent tent mission, this statement impressed me most, ‘We do not know how prayer works, we only know that when we pray, we call down the power of God upon the person for whom we are praying.’ Simple! Yet profound.

Last night I sat by the fire, knitting and browsing through some missionary prayer letters. One told of a three day Field Conference in Papua where missionaries and their children were saved on three occasions from snakes. In the first incidence, toddlers were playing about the steps of the home. When killed, it was identified as a deadly black Papuan snake. The second squirmed out of the river where the missionaries had left their little boat: it proved to be a deadly six foot taipan.

The last was a python found devouring a chicken. ‘Someone must have prayed for these people’, I thought, while instantly One said to me, ‘Well, it wasn’t you.’

Too true!

But it was someone. Was it you?

In rushing and bustling days, a woman can express her deepest feelings in prayer when the Lord has touched her heart. When a woman is at peace with her God, she can talk constantly with HIM, bringing the power of heaven upon the person for whom she is praying.

Take time in your day to feed on the Scriptures, which will nourish you; their milk and meat will feed you; its honey will sweeten; while the living water will quench your thirst. The Lord promised, ‘They that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled.’

Then pray. Can I hear you telling me how full your day is - with so much to do. Such a wet, cold winter; so much ironing; so many clothes to dry; so much cooking. True! And much time to spend in prayer while we are working.

Record the names of those for whom you will pray. Your family, relations, friends, neighbours and missionaries. You will e surprised at the number of those for whom you are impelled to pray. ’How can I pray for so many’ may be your first thought?

You can, though you cannot pray for them all on the one day. Keep that notebook handy. Taking a shower! Remember a friend while you shower. Getting dressed!

Pray for another while sweeping the floors- perhaps two or three now. Washing up dishes.- were you trying to work out some situation, forgetting that the Lord said,

‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Leave your heavy burden with the Lord. Peter said, ’Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.’( 1Peter 5:7) Then pray!

At the end of the day, you will be surprised how many people you have been able to remember. And then see how the Lord works in answer to prayer. Often as I have prayed for one or another, I have met them in the course of shopping. I have seen the power of God operating on the persons prayed for.

Often when driving with my husband, we pray for mutual friends. Of course, this ‘on the run’ plan should not displace the time alone with the Lord. Nothing could ever replace a quiet time with the Lord. Paul reminds us to ‘Pray without ceasing.’

It can be done. Try it!