Good Morning!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pray for one person & let them know what you prayed on their behalf.

Prayer is such an intimate and personal gift, a rare treasure that can bring joy into the greatest depths of a discouraged heart.   Because of the personal nature of this gift, it can be one of the more challenging to give.  There can be some hurdles in our own minds to over come to make this happen.

This is week five in a six week series called Mission Encouragement.  I am offering one challenge each week to help you encourage those within your sphere of influence and daily interactions.  Our goal is simply to add a bit of joy to our corners of the world, by bring PEP UP to life.

This week’s challenge: pray for one person, let them know what you prayed. 

One Person: I encourage you to focus your efforts on just one person.  This helps us to individualize and personalize.  It also helps us set a realistic goal for our week.  A tiny spark is all it takes to set a giant flame aglow.

I would encourage each of us to offer a short prayer for who will be the recipient of our encouragement efforts this week.  Perhaps you will know very quickly who you will focus your energy on, or maybe it will take a while for the revelation to come.

Prep before you Pray: Get a note pad or pull up a memo on your phone, what details in this person’s life can you dedicate your prayer to?

Pray for their Challenges: Often times we are driven to prayer when there are challenges in our lives.  What struggles are they facing?  What events or circumstances might be bringing them discouragement?  What is coming up in the future that is causing them stress or strain?

Praise for their Victories: Can your prayer be a celebration of something good that has come into the life of the person you are praying for?  Has there been a task brought to completion?  A new opportunity presented to them that they are undertaking?  Is there a blessing that you can see looking in upon their life?

Details of an Average Day: An ordinary day may not seem to have major challenges or great victories, but I think we can probably all agree that the daily grind of life is exhausting.  What is it about their day that might make them weary?  What could they use the greatest amount of strength for?  What is it about an average day that is extreme, something that loathe or something they love?  What are the overlooked things about their day that you can pray into?

Ask Them:  If you are still not sure what they could use prayer for, go ahead and ask.  How can I best pray for you?

Pause to Pray: Once you prep has been complete, you are ready for to take pause and pray.  Keep in mind that your preparations and prayers might come at two different times.  Perhaps we scratch our notes on a sticky note during a break, but we pray the next morning.  Flexibility can be the key to complete follow through.

Quiet Moment: Turn off the noise, check out of your technology and still your mind.  It can take a few moments for us to get on the off ramp of the interstate of life’s daily chores to focus on prayer.  The quiet will be a gift to both you and the person you are praying for.

We are not talking about taking an entire day off, or praying for ten hours straight.  For most of us in an average week that is not feasible, even if it sounds amazing.  Five minutes, ten minutes, three minutes.  Any moment that you can give will be a gift.

Pass along your Prayer: Once you have prayed, let the person you prayed for know.  Text them, write them a card, send them an email, give them a call.  It does not have to be a long message, “I prayed for you this morning” works just fine.

I have found it to be such an incredible gift when someone says they were praying for me, especially when they include a bit of detail.  You can even send your prayer if you would like.  Prayers can be shared by text, letter, email or even left in a voicemail.

Use a Prayer: There are lots of amazing prayers written down and documented.  You can even do a quick google search.  Try looking for “prayers for patience” or “prayers during grief” or what ever subject you are focusing on.  Prayer can be intimidating at times when we do not have the words.  This is one way we can use the information overload society we live in to our benefit.

Sample:

Just as the 2016 came to an end and 2017 was beginning my sweet, cherished friend Connie sent me this prayer via text message:  “As the year wraps up and draws to a close, may you let go of any lies you picked up along the way.  May you shake off any offenses that are still hanging on.  May you instead, wrap yourself in the complete LOVE and acceptance of Christ.  May you forgive yourself and forgive others.  May you believe that God’s promises are more powerful than your blunders.  May you embrace God’s redemptive plan for your life with hopeful expectance.  Be healed and restored as you sleep tonight.  And may you wake up with FRESH faith and vision for the year ahead.  God is with you and will never leave you for forsake you.” 

This prayer not only richly encouraged my heart, but I shared this prayer with several people to encourage them as well.  Prayer is one of the key elements in the mission to PEP UP for Joy.  Passionate Encouragement and Prayer Uplifts People and spreads Joy.

Prayer for You:

Beloved Lord, it is hard to believe five weeks have gone by already.  I pray sweet encouragement to each of my readers who have responded to these challenges and are pouring out time, talent and treasures so generously.  I pray for a rich refreshing for their hearts and energy for their days. 

Lord, I ask that there would be a generous dollop of joy to spread upon our days through our purposeful actions to encourage others.  May we all have a bit more pep in our step because of the choices we are making. 

In the name of Jesus, who prays for each of us.  Amen.