This past weekend our church sponsored a 24 hour prayer vigil to prepare our hearts and minds for the season of Advent. I waited for the last minute to sign up for a time slot because I wanted to make sure I could sign up for a time that was hard to fill. The time slot that was open was 10pm to 1am on Saturday.
I would like to say that I did a lot of preparation for my 3 hour prayer slot on Saturday... but instead it became this thing that was looming in my future... it was something that I HAD to do. I put off all of my youth ministry reading until that time so I would have "something" to do. I was not in the greatest frame of mind to be in prayer and meditation for 3 hours. I was busy, tired, worn out, burnt out, and frustrated with life in general.
10pm I showed up to the church with a cup of coffee, a book, and my cell phone.
I read over half of the book The Godbearing Life....which pretty much changed my life and the way I look at ministry. It took all of my ministry frustrations and anger and opened my mind to so many things I really needed to think about. (totally another blog entry).
Then I was left with an hour to concentrate on prayer. I had several people send me prayer requests via text messages and facebook. When I was done with those prayers... I had a really crazy idea....
Why don't I go through all of my contacts in my cell phone and pray for them individually.
Wow.. What an experience!
I learned so much about myself and my contacts in just 30 min. of prayer.
In 30 min. I prayed for 178 contacts in my phone... and that was just A-J. ( I plan on praying for K-Z the rest of this week)
I found myself praying for youth that i was in ministry with 7 years ago..and now they are adults.
I prayed for the youth that are currently in my life and that have blessed my life in so many ways.
I prayed for the doctors that saved my dads life on multiple occasions.
I prayed for businesses like Dish Network and Apple Computer Inc.
I prayed for guys that I dated in the past, former coworkers, and people that I am not friends with any more. (This would be a category of people I really just keep their numbers in my phone so I know not to answer it).
There was so much healing in those prayers.
My eyes filled up with tears as scrolled down my contacts list and saw the name of one of my former youth that passed away suddenly earlier this year. I prayed a prayer of thanks for God placing this young man in my life and I prayed for his family as they are experiencing this holiday with out him for the first time.
I realized that I save people under some weird names.... like Dan the basketball supply guy (the guy who sold me basketball pads for our Upward basketball goals) and Hair... which is the number for the lady that used to cut my hair a long time ago.
I prayed for churches and ministeries of contacts that were in my phone.
I prayed for people I talk to all of the time... and people I haven't talked to in years.
Although it was only a half an hour of prayer... and although it was for all of those in my contacts A-J..... it was probably the most powerful prayer experience I had in a long time.
I laughed... I cried... I thanked... I apologized.... I forgave.
I needed that time to reconnect with my heart and the blessings I have in those God has placed in my life.
I heard from somebody a while ago that "The time that you don't want to do something like go to church or pray is the time you need to do those things the most". This was one of those times. I didn't want to spend three hours meditating and praying. I wanted to lay on my couch and watch tv or go to sleep.
God knew just what I needed and spit me out of the whale and placed me at my cell phone.
I would love to challenge all of you to spend 30 min. and pray for all of those in your cell phone. Scroll down and take just a second or two in prayer for each contact. It will be very eye opening and amazing!
