How we can Pray for Boston

While praying for Boston this morning my prayer started out pretty general.  Please bring healing to the city, etc. Then, as I prayed for a few minutes longer my heart began to stir and my soul began to cry out to God. It was a powerful moment between this sinner and God. I was reminded He is God and I am me. He is the Creator of this Universe and I can ask Him anything.

I began to pray for the victim who I read about that lost their leg in the explosion yesterday. I don’t know anything about this person. I don’t know if it is a she or he or if they are even still alive. I felt this burden to pray for them. Suddenly, it wasn’t about the city of Boston, it was about this nameless victim. But, they are not nameless to God. God knows exactly who this person is. He knows where they are right now.  I began to pray for healing, but it wasn’t enough. I was being drawn deeper into God’s presence. It is about more than just healing, this person needs hope. They might not know Christ or maybe they already have a relationship with Him. Either way, at this point in their life they are now waking up and it is the next day without their leg.

It is the day after what was supposed to be an ordinary day in their life. They were running in a marathon or maybe they were watching the marathon, then seconds later their life changed forever.  They are now faced with a new life, one where you have to learn to walk again, where you no longer have a limb that was there the day before.  I believe it would be hardest to accept it wasn’t by your doing that this awful this happened, but rather by the actions of another person whom you have never met. A person who never gave you the choice of whether you wanted to be a part of their plan.

So, this morning I prayed for that person, who woke up and realized their life was changed. I prayed they would have hope and they would have a purpose in their heart. If they don’t know the peace Jesus offers, then someone would be there to share it with them.  I prayed they would have a desire to continue on, because without hope and purpose we become lost and depressed.  I want this person to know there is someone praying for them.  They are more important than the person who did this horrible crime.

This is our opportunity to pray for the lost and the weary. Pray for God to be revealed in a specific way to each person.  You don’t have to know their name, because God already does. We just have to be faithful to pray.

James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing,”