Inconvenienced by Prayer

 I love my pastor, Charles M. Roberts, who turned 80 this summer. He no longer pastors my home church. He retired after 34 years. He started preaching as an interim pastor at another church and they called him to be their pastor. He has served there well over a decade. I have the utmost respect for him. He is a hero of mine. I still keep in touch with him. 

I recently contacted him for some counsel. Mixed with the advice was some wisdom I can't shake. His words were both wise and timely. They were also a little unsettling. Let me share them with you. "We are often inconvenienced by the prayers of others. God could well answer prayers and you be the answer to those prayers. Go with God where He leads."

That phrase inconvenienced by the prayers of others really hit home. God has used many people to be the answer to prayers Brenda and I prayed over the years. Most recently, when she was unable to work after surgery God used others to answer our prayers that must have inconvenienced them as they gave to us sacrificially to meet our needs. 

People pray for God to send help like when hurricanes hit, or wildfires devastate, or tornadoes ravage. Missionaries pray God will send help in financial partnerships or volunteers for short term mission trips. George Mueller prayed God would send help to staff and provide for thousands of orphans. Many were inconvenienced to give donations, some possessions, and some were called to staff the orphanages. 

Today you just might be the answer to someone's prayer. It might not be convenient for you. You may have to sacrifice some time at home with the family, some finances, or in the most extreme cases to relocate to help. This has happened for many families relocating who cared for aging parents. It also could be true of some place on this planet where people are crying out to God to send help. Some ordinary person sitting minding their ordinary business may be interrupted by the call of God to go help. History is filled with people who left their homes to follow the call of God to some foreign land. 

This just happened for a friend of mine. I coached with him for a couple of years at a Christian school. He is the head of the Bible of department. He has filled in for me preaching when I have been out of the pulpit. He recently told me that God has called him to accept teaching in a seminary in South Africa! I was stunned to hear this news. Somebody in South Africa prayed and my friend will be inconvenienced to answer that prayer. He will relocate with his wife and two of his children across the globe to do the work of God. 

It is amazing how God can connect people's prayers with other people who are the answer to those prayers. That is fascinating to me. It is also a little unsettling. None of us know when we might be inconvenienced because someone else prayed. It might be something as small as a phone call to check on someone or a text to encourage another person. It might require a personal visit, a handwritten letter. God may require you to speak a prophetic word in person like He did with me to one of my nieces. He might call you to forego sleep to intercede for someone in need.  He may ask you to give up some money. He may require you to give up some vacation time to go to another state or distant land on a short-term mission trip. It may happen rarely, but God inconvenienced Paul when he saw the vision of the man from Macedonia calling for help. [Acts 16:9-10] Paul was the answer to that prayer. It meant a change in direction and ministry focus. Paul was the answer to the Macedonian prayer. Maybe you are too and so am I. It is part of the great adventure of walking with God to be inconvenienced by prayer.