This is the Truth Network. Encouraging prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray.
And now, here's James.
Well, today on Encouraging Prayer, I'm intrigued because we are going to. Talk about How to love your neighbor in prayer. And so, what an opportunity, James. I'm definitely intrigued. Yeah.
You know, this is something that I think we're called to do all the time. And what made me think about this was this morning I had to go in for a blood test for my annual physical. And I'm sitting there talking to the nurse while she's taking my blood. And of course, they always ask for your birth date. She said, Oh, your birthday's close to mine And she told me your age and I said I'm twice as old as you are.
And then she very kindly said, Well, you don't look it. Yeah. But Then she added, Um Any advice? Wow. Hmm.
What an interesting thing to say.
So I said, great question. He said, let me think about it for a moment. And I thought about it not too long and then I responded. Go with God. Go with God.
There you go. And I explained a little what that meant. You know Keep loving. Keep praying. Yeah.
Turning to him. And You know, the the neat thing was, as I left, I found myself Yeah. And this is the kind of thing that I think we're called to every day. This kind of interaction where it's just a natural, normal part of our conversation. It's nothing put on.
You know, we're just bringing our relationship with Jesus into the situations where we're meeting people. And it's so important to do that. Yeah, those opportunities present themselves and critical, right? That you have. Those words.
And so I'm very curious about the prayer afterwards. How did you go there?
Well, I didn't pray with her directly. I just, you know, prayed for her as I'm as I'm leaving the building. And um You know, that's that's the interesting thing.
Sometimes people can be intimidated by the concept of prayer. They think it has to be this uh You know, very very religious.
sort of thing. And sometimes it's not helped when we just you know How can I pray for you to day? Um If we don't say it with the right tone of voice, you know, that can kind of throw people off. But Even the course of a normal conversation, you know, they're telling you about a problem or, you know, that their day's not going so well, well, you immediately have something that you can say, you know, I don't pray about that for you. And yeah.
Who knows how God will use that when we do that? That's beautiful. As you did intercede with God for her, how did you do that?
Well, I you know, I just Thank God for her and ask God to bless her. And you know, I I I thought it was uh you know get a Just a really neat interchange. It was clear that God was in it. And um Yeah. This is the kind of thing that But I know I'm called to do more and more.
And I know I'm not alone in this. You know, it's It's a matter of As you're going. Tell others. You know, that's essentially. Uh what the Great Commission is all about.
And so You know, I think we just have to we have to very humbly bring our relationship with Jesus into everyday life In a winsome way for others, and prayer is one of the best ways that we can do that. Because you know, as you know, a lot of people may not be open to talking about Jesus. You know, they They may not uh you know, once you'd ask them if they've heard of the four spiritual laws. Um Yeah. Respond to prayer.
And that's a good first step, who knows we'll go take that. Yeah, I mean, you've heard it said, how bad would you have to hate somebody to not share the best news of your life with them? But practically, you know, it's easy to get caught up in your life, but I guess all the more reason to. you know, be in prayer constantly because You know, somehow or another you know, the Holy Spirit entered into that whole transaction, right? Right.
And, you know, I mean, I I have to admit, it was first thing in the morning and I just Finished having my devotions and there's an app that I love to use for praising God. And um So I w you know, I just finished that and uh So I was I was all ready to go at the time that we at the time that we talk. But um You know, th this is This is the beautiful thing that we can do. We can bring the Holy Spirit of God through prayer. through His love in our hearts.
In in just quiet and easy ways into people's lives. And if we do that, that has a way over time of, you know, those kindnesses. Add up. And they speak of Jesus. Yeah.
That's where we want to be. Yeah, exactly. Is grace in its own way, right? Like showing great favor to the people, and they sense God's in that. Yeah.
Yeah. And I wish I got that all the time, you know, but this morning I did.
So put that in your blind squirrel, gets in that category now and then. Oh, absolutely beautiful.
Well, this would be a good time to To pray along those lines, James? All right, why don't you do it? Lord, thank you for the opportunities you give each of us every day. And Lord, we pray that you would help us to. be walking with you closely enough to spot the opportunities that you give us.
Lord, that you would provide us With people to share with, and then the words to share with them, as well as an opportunity to grow deeper in our relationship with you as we intercede. And so, Lord, again, I thank you for this reminder. I thank you for the opportunities and prayers. Pray that you would bless. All of us in this Uh Opportunity for the kingdom.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen? Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.
