The bulletin board across from the Welcome Center has been used as a Prayer Wall throughout the past several years. It is a place you and I can post our needs and praises, and where others can share in our burdens and joys by lifting them up in prayer.
This Prayer Wall is a visible sign of God’s presence in our midst. It is a reminder that we can go to our Savior at any time to talk with Him about anything. He is there every moment of every day—waiting and wanting us to turn to Him with our worries, concerns, joys, and celebrations. We were not created to be alone and to deal with what life brings us by using just our own knowledge and skills, but to live through things in fellowship with God.
The Prayer Wall is also a reminder that we are in community with each other. We not only need God–we also need each other. We have the responsibility and the privilege of praying for others and them for us. We have no idea how our prayers will impact the situation we lift up to God, but we do know God hears and will respond. No prayer goes unheard or is wasted.
I joined the prayer ministry at a time when I felt “flat” with my prayer life. I felt I was going through the motions without much personal growth. So I joined the prayer ministry to meet my own needs but quickly learned it wasn’t about me. It was about being in service to others through prayer and as a result, growing in my own prayer life.
Each of us is called to pray for each other. Talking with God can be a quick, “Lord, help this person through this difficult time.” Or, we can really let God have it when life is really bad and seems unfair. And then there are times when we don’t have the words to say. It is at this time that we sit quietly in the presence of God and let the Holy Spirit pray for us.
But when we see the Prayer Wall and ask for prayers or pray the requests of others, we open ourselves to the power of heaven, to the kingdom of God. We bring ourselves into community with others and them with us. And that, my friends, is heaven on earth.
-Diane Weaver