Everyday I pray that I will draw near to God and that I will know Him more and obey Him. I pray that He will rule over my life and give me a listening heart – a heart of wisdom. Still being a task oriented person, once I’m at work or working on other projects, I can be so absorbed in them that I felt I’ve side-lined God instead of ushering Him in with me. I want to draw near to Him, I pray and read His word everyday but still I felt distant like I’m not involving God as much as I should in my life.
I decided I’m going to spend some quiet time with Him to be closer to Him and let Him refresh my soul everyday but initially it worked but “the Lord” in turn helped bring to my remembrance things that I need to get done or things I could do differently or creatively. After spending a few minutes of “quiet time” I felt so good that I'd done my part to draw near to God that now I can happily get on with my tasks. Soon I treated this “quiet time” like another task to be included on my daily checklist.
Every morning and evening I will pray for me, my family and friends whom I know that need prayers because we all want God to answer our prayers and bless us. It became a routine that as if I don’t ask, I will not get. So it’s more of a prayer of fear of losing or missing out than a prayer of faith that it should be.
This morning it’s different. After many months of praying that I want to draw near to God and obey Him, I received my breakthrough on my way to work. Instead of praying for blessing on me and my loved ones as usual, I began to pray for strangers that I saw out of the window. I prayed sincerely from my heart that God will bless them and encourage them. Whatever that makes them sad, they will find hope and joy again. That they will come to know Him and that God will make them beautiful and acceptable. They will find love and peace again. I prayed for any men or women that caught my attention especially those who looked fierce, serious or distress. I just made a sincere prayer for them as the way I want others to pray for me. Deep inside me, I’ve got a knowing that something is happening in those people whom I’ve prayed for and I receive this satisfaction, joy and love all over again.
All of a sudden, I felt the closeness of God in me and with me. I felt His presence as if He delights in me for praying for others sincerely. I felt the love of God inside of me grows. Then I realised that Jesus loves people of the world by praying constantly for them, apart from spending time with them and eating with them. He even loved those who are unlovely, but His love is empowering and conquers all our imperfections and shortcomings.
By praying for others, especially strangers whom you're prompted to pray for, God's presence draws near because it brings Him great delight.
Let us pray for those who share in our needs, who are in the same situation like us that God will also answer their prayers. Pray earnestly for one another and you’ll come to realise you’re closer to God’s heart and His throne than you could possibly imagined.
By praying for others you’re touching the throne of grace and there’s a smile of delight on our Heavenly Father’s face because we are following the footstep of His beloved Son – Jesus Christ.
John 13
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
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