Tag: prayer

Christian Writer, Devotional thought, prayer

S.O.S. PRAYER AND A SHOPPING TROLLEY

joymargetts

In church a couple of weeks ago we were looking at the story of Nehemiah. One of the things that stood out to me was how used to talking to God Nehemiah was.

TURNING TO GOD

Nehemiah turned to God when his heart broke at the news from Jerusalem, of broken walls and broken people. He fasts and prays and pours out his heart to God (Neh 1:4-10). But he doesn’t restrict Himself to praying in the secret place. He has to stand before the great King Artaxerxes, one of the most powerful and feared of the Persian kings, knowing that to voice the reason for his sadness might cost him his life. But the King listens to him, and then remarkably asks what he can do to help. And Nehemiah prays. This isn’t a long and eloquent prayer, it is not recorded what he even says. It was most likely a heart whisper – ‘Help me, Lord. Give me favour. Tell me what to say’.

Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”

So I prayed to the God of heaven. Neh 2:4

Image is a painting of Nehemiah the cupbearer standing before a King on a throne

THE S.O.S. PRAYER

Nehemiah was a man of prayer. He knew God would hear him and help him. And He did.

I wonder if you have found yourself in the situation where all you could do was pray? Send up an S.O.S. emergency call to God. Perhaps you have found yourself in the place of fear, anxiety or overwhelm? Perhaps someone has asked you a question about your faith and you don’t know how to answer. Jesus definitely promised help on that one Mark 13:11). I have been in that place, many times. When time is short, and I can’t get on my knees, can’t even voice a prayer out loud, but know that I God will hear my S.O.S.

THE SHOPPING TROLLEY

Sarah* is a friend of mine and told us a great story recently. She had taken her elderly mother to a supermarket to get some groceries. As they entered the store they encountered two men who were facing off. Both were angry and vile words were being exchanged. Aggression hung in the air, and the situation looked likely to escalate into physical violence at any point. Shoppers hurriedly gave them a wide berth and security was called for. But Sarah decided to do something. She prayed in the Spirit. And then, she told us, something came over her and she did something she would never had courage to do in and of herself. She took her shopping trolley and headed straight for the warring couple. With polite cries of ‘excuse me, coming through’ she literally pushed her trolley between the two men. Shocked at her audacity, the men jumped apart from each other, and were dragged away by their wives. By the time store security arrived the two men had walked away from the confrontation. Sarah said she had initially thought about trying to talk them down, but realised afterwards that she might have put herself in danger in doing so. Instead, she prayed, and God gave her another strategy. Distraction tactics.

Photographic image of a shopping trolley and supermarket shelves
Image courtesy of Canva

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

I loved this story. I love my times of alone prayer with God, but I wonder how often I miss the opportunity to make a difference in the world around me, by not just praying those quick ‘what shall I do?’ or ’help me!’ prayers. I would love to be continually in communication with my Father in heaven, but life gets in the way. He understands. It is a comfort to know that He is just a prayer away, and that He hears, even our rapid heart cries, when we need His help for ourselves. But inspired by Sarah, and by Nehemiah, I am going to try to be more intentional to use my S.O.S. prayers to make a difference in others lives too.

*not her real name

Joy Margetts is a published author and blogger. Her books are works of Christian Historical fiction. Set in medieval Wales against the backdrop of Cistercian abbey life, they tell stories of faith, hope and God’s redemptive power. Her debut novel ‘The Healing‘ was published by Instant Apostle on 19 March 2021.

‘The Pilgrim‘, her second full length novel, was published by Instant Apostle on 22 July 2022, and her third novel, ‘The Bride‘, published on 20th October 2023. Her first non-fiction book, an Advent Devotional, ‘Christ Illuminated‘ was published in September 2023.

More information on Joy, and her books can be found here

Christian Writer, Connected to God, Dealing with Fear, Faith, God's faithfulness, God's protection, prayer, The Word of God

THE POWER OF GLASS: THE POWER OF PRAYER

joymargetts

Dog v Rabbit

We have a dog. Sometimes having a dog is hard work, especially when they are old and hairy, and smelly and noisy. But they can also be oh so entertaining. A few days ago we witnessed something that made us laugh out loud.

We have wall to ceiling windows in our new extension, and the garden is just the other side of the glass. Dog takes up position on his chair (Yes, he has his own armchair. Don’t judge me!) from where he has a good view of all the goings on outside. This particular day a large wild rabbit appeared in the garden. Now dog is a terrier, and rabbits are for chasing, and so of course he went mad. Barking, running up and down, generally being a big fierce scary little terrier. The rabbit for its part just sat down. Less that six feet from the window. Completely unmoved by all the commotion the other side of the glass, it just sat. For over an hour. In the end dog just had to give up, and collapsed panting and sighing onto his chair. Never once did he take his eyes off the garden invader, but he was not able to get anywhere close to chasing it away.

Wild rabbit sitting on a pile of garden soil
Small black and white dog sitting on a chair gazing out of a window, his chin on his paws

What the glass wall represents

Now as a Christian writer I could take all sorts of things from this and use it as an illustration applicable to our every day lives. For example

  • The glass represents God, the barking dog is the enemy and the rabbit us. The enemy can make a big noise but he can’t get at us, if God is our protection. His bark is worse than his bite.

Or perhaps

  • Like the rabbit we should be unmoved by what people (dog) say about us, and stand firm under persecution, holding on to the truth of the word of God – what God says, that is the glass by which we should see things.

Our prayers, the glass wall

Now both of those are great truths and perhaps they are an encouragement to you. I really do hope that they are. But I am especially aware today of millions of people who are right in the frontline of attack and persecution. Not least our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine. It doesn’t necessarily feel like they are being shielded from the enemy, and they are truly vulnerable to persecution and suffering, however strong their faith in God is at this time.

So for them perhaps a better metaphor might be that the glass represents our prayers for them. We might not be able to prevent the bark becoming a bite, but we can stand in the gap for them. We can claim God’s promises on their behalf, we can call on Him for His protection of them, we can declare their victory in Him. We can ask for their needs to be provided for, their faith to be strengthened, their hope to rise and God’s peace and joy to sustain them. We can pray. And our prayers work. There are stories of miracles and hope, love and kindness pouring out of the areas of conflict.

Image of a stone wall with a glassless window overlooking a field of sunflowers and the text of Ezekiel 22 v 30

The power of prayer

My dog is not evil, it is his natural instinct to want to taste a bit of rabbit. The rabbit is not all good. In fact it really looked like that bunny knew how much of a tease it was being. And wild rabbits can desecrate a garden.

Perhaps then, rather than painting one side all wrong and the other side all right, our prayers should extend to those on both sides of the conflict. No-one is outside of God’s mercy and grace. Our dog and that rabbit will never be friends, but the power of God’s love and mercy can reconcile the fiercest of human enemies.  History proves it to be true.

Joy Margetts is new to blogging, and new to being published. Her debut novel ‘The Healing‘ was published by Instant Apostle on 19 March 2021. A work of historic fiction, set in medieval Wales against the backdrop of Cistercian abbey life, it is also a story of faith, hope and God’s redemptive power. Joy has also self- published a short novella, ‘The Beloved‘ as both a companion to ‘The Healing‘, and as an easy to read standalone story, which is available to buy on Amazon Kindle.

‘The Pilgrim‘, her second full length novel, will be published by Instant Apostle in July 2022

More information on Joy and her writing, and links to purchase her books can be found here www.joymargetts.com