Greetings everyone. This is Doctor John Ewart.
I'm the senior pastor at Englewood Baptist Church in
Rocky Mount, NC, and I just want to welcome you to this episode
of Walking in Prayer. I hope that you've been
listening to this some of these podcast episodes as we've just
been walking together through how to pray for various areas of
our life and for one another. We've talked in the past, if
you'll go back and look at some of our episodes, we've talked
about how to pray in a general way.
We've talked about how to pray for the lost another.
So I just hope you'll tune into all of these episodes.
These can be used in a couple of ways.
One is you could actually use these as you are walking, which
was the original idea that as you're out walking the dog,
walking around the neighborhood, walking with your spouse or
friends, that you might just listen to these and and actually
have a guided prayer walk as you're walking, praying for your
neighbors and your world. They could also be used as
you're at home sitting and having your quiet time.
And so you enjoy these. I hope they're helpful.
We've enjoyed doing these. And I'm joined today by Pastor
Charles Taylor, who is our our pastor of prayer here, pastor of
prayer at Inglewood and also of our our member care.
And so today we want to talk about how to pray for the weak.
What we mean by that? Is there people that we know who
are not feeling well? They could be physical, it could
be emotional or mental. So we're going to focus on some
of those prayers of intercession, encouragement, how
to uplift one another when people might be physically ill
and, or, and some other way they're just not feeling well or
they're just weak in their life right now.
So we, we don't know a better way to pray than to ask for
healing. We, we really don't have a
better direction than that. And so we know that God heals in
a number of different ways. And so when we do pray for those
who are sick, we generally begin with that idea of Lord, heal
them, please, Father, heal them of this.
When we're visiting somebody in the hospital or somebody who's
homebound or somebody who's really struggling with something
in their life, we pray for that healing because we we have no
better way to pray than that. And we believe that God hears
us, but we also recognize that his timing, his method may not
be ours. And so we also recognize that we
have to wait upon him and be patient with what he's going
going to do. So as you begin your walk or you
begin your prayer time, just join us as we guide you through
some scripture and through a few principles and ideas.
In fact, Charles, thank you for being here.
And why don't you read a passage?
There's a great passage in James chapter 5, for example.
Yes, James 513 and 15 through 15.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.
Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call the elders of the
church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in
the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will
save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and
if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Yeah, that's a powerful passage. And so we want to pray for
people who are spiritually sick who are lost.
And there's an entire episode about that.
But we also recognize the Bible does command us to pray for
those who are physically sick as well as maybe maybe it's a it's
a, a mental or emotional this year they're going through.
I have a brother who's a medical doctor and he and I talk about
this quite a bit to where he believes that God has called him
into medicine in order to help people.
And I'm often reminded of what the book of Exodus describes it
as when they were building and designing the Tabernacle and the
the priestly garments. And it says that the the Lord
gave a spirit of skill to those artisans.
And I believe he does the same things for those who help and
care for us. So one of the things we want to
do is we pray for healing. We want to pray for the sick
person, obviously. And you're going to want to take
a couple of moments to think about those in your life who
might be suffering in some way. And we'll give you time to pray,
but while you're doing that, also think about those that have
been given this spirit of skill, those who are in the medical
fields, those who, who are helping and, and are, are being
used by God to, to either counsel or to provide medicine
or to provide treatment. And so this is including those
who would help us with our mental as well as emotional
health as well. So, so God may choose to use
them in a healing process. So Pastor Charles, do you have
something maybe from the Psalms that you could read to us to
encourage us? Yes, Pastor Psalms one O 3,
especially verses 2 through 5 where the psalmist said Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Who forgives all your iniquity? Who heals all your diseases?
Who redeems your life from the pit?
Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy?
Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like
the Eagles? And so for a few moments, just
think about praying for healing again.
That's our first thought. When someone's sick, we pray
that God would heal them. Or when somebody's facing
surgery or maybe, you know, somebody facing cancer treatment
or something serious like that, or somebody who's who's really
emotionally or just just mentally not doing well right
now. So how could you pray that God
would bring healing? So take just a few moments and
as we pause to pray for those things.
The. The.
We also want to encourage you to pray for patience and endurance,
which is often very difficult for people who are suffering and
and hurting. It's difficult when we don't
feel well, but there can be so many lessons to learn that God
might be trying to teach us through an illness or through a
difficult season. And so we often hear the phrase
in the Bible, waiting upon the Lord.
Charles. Charles, talk to us a little bit
about that. Pastor John Also early this year
I did not feel well. I was sick, couldn't get well.
I relapsed many, many times. And so I kept asking the Lord,
what do you want me to learn? And waiting upon the Lord was
especially a essential lesson for me to trust in God's timing
and plan and actively seeking his will while remaining patient
and hopeful. That takes the strength and the
power of God. We're we're actually looking for
his intervention, his plan. It's not just about inactivity,
waiting, and sitting around, but rather a state of expectant
trust and reliance on God's guidance.
And this involves actively walking with God, praying and
seeking His wisdom, all while trusting that He is working like
you said earlier, even when His timing is not clear to us.
Yeah, that's really powerful and, and, and difficult.
I really do believe it's difficult.
The, the lessons that we try to learn, the strength and patience
that we have to sometimes learn that during these difficult
times for us. Or, or, or maybe, you know,
maybe it's even harder when it's a, a family member, somebody
that you love dearly and you're watching them go through things
and you, you're questioning God and you're wondering why is this
happening? And, and how can I, how can I
make it through it? Even though I'm not the one
who's really going through it? I just have such empathy and
sympathy for them, a child or a spouse or a friend.
And then also think about the caregivers and the fact that,
you know, what, the strength and endurance that nurses and, and,
and medical tech technicians have to have and counselors,
that the emotional weight that counselors have to deal with.
Even you, as you do member care here at the church that the the
weight that we have to to bear with others is often very
difficult. So what are some passages maybe
that would help us related to suffering and enduring things
that we could learn about and and think through together?
Pastor Charles. Yes, and when people ask me to
pray for them when they're not well or they're going through a
crisis or they're suffering, I do ask the Lord first of all
that they will look to Him. I think about Proverbs 3, five
and six. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your
ways. Acknowledge Him and He will make
straight your path. Pastor John.
Also, I think about Psalms 46, that whole passage of it's just
really tremendous. But. 4611 The Lord of hosts is
with us, the God of Jacob. It is our fortress or our
refuge. And I remind people that the
Lord is with us. He is not forgotten us and we
can look to him here. Romans 818 Paul wrote.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to
us. And I know that seems so far
away when we're going through pain and we're going through
suffering, but to remember to worship the Lord, to look to
Him, and to expect and trust Him that He will be with us and walk
with us and lead us. Yeah, that's powerful.
And and the idea of waiting upon the Lord in the Old Testament,
I've actually had to look up what the Hebrew kind of was
referring to. And and that's not just some
passive I'm doing nothing while I hope God does something.
Waiting is a is anticipation. It's expectation, it's hope.
I'm expecting God to do something.
Sometimes it may not happen as soon as I wish it would it, you
know, and sometimes we even have to understand why the illness
won't go away. You know, why, why we're why
we're stuck with it. It seems that almost as like
Paul's thorn in the flesh idea or the woman who, who was
bleeding for years before she finally met Jesus, you know,
and, and to think about why, why won't this go away?
One of the things that I'm going to be teaching about in another
session in another format is, is the problem of evil.
And, and why, why do people suffer?
Why did that person get healed and another person not be
healed? You know, and we, we've got to
understand that sometimes healing takes place in ways that
we don't, we don't understand, or maybe we don't even want to.
God actually can heal a believer by taking them home and
restoring them completely. And and that's a very difficult
idea for a lot of us, but but to to think about suffering and
pain. You have any other thoughts
about suffering and pain before we take a time to pray?
Well, I know in God's words, suffering and pain are presented
as a multifaceted experience with spiritual, physical and
emotional dimensions. They are often linked to the
consequences of sin and the brokenness of this world, but
also Pastor John, for opportunities for growth and
testing and ultimately glorifying God.
And so when I pray for others, and I'm asking God to help me to
pray for others correctly, I pray that as they go through
this time that they will lean and rest upon Him and He will be
glorified as they trust Him and wait on Him.
Right, So let's take just a few moments and not only have you
been praying for healing, which is something you should continue
to do, but but also pray for the patience and endurance that this
person, this person or these persons in your life, or maybe
it's you need to be able to experience and learn.
So just take a moment as you pray through some of these
ideas. The.
The.
And as we continue as pastor, Charles was just saying, you
know, we were talking about that we also want to pray that this
time would draw us closer to God and that the lessons we learned
wouldn't just be lessons, but they would actually translate
into life. And so we want to pray that that
through what we are enduring, through what we're trying to get
through, frankly, and be healed from, to be released from, we
also recognize that this this could be a spiritual journey
that actually impacts us for the rest of our lives.
And so Charles talk about how to pray that his presence would be
really very real to us. We desire for God to be close to
us and He says He is, but many times we do not realize we're
not aware of His presence. So when I'm praying for others I
I pray that they would be aware that He really is with them.
The reality of His presence will bring peace and power to their
lives. Psalm 62, eight, the psalmist
wrote. Trust in him at all times.
You people pour out your heart before him.
God is a refuge. God is with us.
He's a very present help in time of trouble because he's a very
present help. But many times we just need to
be aware that he is with us. Psalms 23 is a Psalm.
I know we use a lot of times when the passing of a loved one
happens, but I say many times Psalms 23 is for the living.
It's a daily Psalms that we can go to talks about us being aware
of his presence, David wrote. The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of
righteousness for his name's sake.
So here's the David, here's the psalmist, here's the person
who's going through things and they are aware that the Lord is
with them and he's leading them. He even says, even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me. The psalmist is very aware of
the presence of the Lord. I will fear no evil, for you are
with me. Your rod and your staff, they
comfort me. You prepare a table before me in
the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house or the presence of the Lord forever.
So as I'm praying Pastor John for others, I pray that they
would be aware that the Lord is leading them, but to be aware
that He's leading them and He's guiding them and He's protecting
them. He's providing for them.
And so I pray for others that they would be so aware of the
presence and the reality of God as they go through this crisis.
Yeah. And that dependence upon him
actually will not only allow our faith to grow it, it'll often
force it to grow. It'll stretch us.
And we don't necessarily always enjoy that experience, to be
honest. But but these are often
necessary times. And one of the things that we
would often, or I've often said to people is because of what you
went through, there are going to be lessons that you're going to
be able to pass on to others. And there's a strength that
those who have been through some things have their faith gets is
deepened and their, their awareness of others is often
strengthened because they themselves have gone through
these experiences. So not only they, they recognize
the presence of the Lord, but they also have a higher
sensitivity to ministry even and, and how to help others.
And so even though we certainly are never going to pray that
we're sick, we're not going to pray that, that we lose a loved
one and that we experience grief.
We recognize that in the midst of something that could be so
horrible a part of the fallen creation that was not a part of
the original design, that what could be evil, what could be
intended for evil, God can still bring something very good out of
it. And, and, and not only help us
and strengthen us, but also help others.
So as we think about praying, about drawing closer to the
Lord, Pastor Charles, do you have any other words for us
before we pray? Just ask the Lord to as you are
going through this time to lean on Him and to pray for others to
look to Him with trust, trusting the Lord, trusting Him to do
what He is wanting to do in your life and in the lives of your
loved ones and others. And maybe you're just walking
around and on the street in your neighborhood and there may be
people you don't even know. But you may know that somethings
you've seen the EMS truck pull in the driveway or you've seen
things happening and that say, hey, this person is going
through a difficult time. The Lord knows exactly what that
time is and what they're going through.
Ask the Lord to that that they would be aware that He loves
them, He cares for them, and He has a plan for their lives.
So let's just take a moment. Whether you're walking right
now, as Charles alluded, or whether you're in the middle of
your personal quiet time, they'll be people that you know
already that are suffering and going through things, but also
others in your world, your neighborhood.
And maybe you see that wheelchair ramp, or maybe you
see that handicap sticker, or maybe, as Charles said, you see
even something more dramatic. So to think about who you could
pray for that that not only would they be healed and not
only would they have patience and endurance, but also that
this would be a time that would draw them closer to God.
So take a moment and just pray for those things.
The. The.
And finally, we want to pray
that this time could be used to actually draw others to him, Not
that this is our our primary motive when somebody is sick or
somebody is hurting or someone has surgery or someone faces
cancer or even faces death or, or some kind of mental illness
or, or emotional distress. But there are moments in these
to where there's actually a gospel opportunity.
At times. People are watching you, People
are going to see how you are going through what you're going
through. And as believers, if we don't go
through these experiences in a different way, then perhaps
we're missing an opportunity to display Christ to others.
And so this can be a time that God can actually use to draw
others to him. And so think about the
testimonies to your caregivers, testimony to the rest of your
family, your friends, your neighbors, even fellow believers
who are wondering how you're facing, what you're facing now.
Charles, what do you think about that?
Yes, like you, Pastor John, I've been in the hospital rooms or
the the prep time right before surgery with someone and I've
been so amazed as I, as I've experienced God's presence, as
the person who's getting ready to go into surgery says to the
doctor or to the medical team, can I pray for you?
I'm trusting in the Lord. I know he's with me and I'm
thankful for how God skilled you and I'm so thankful God's giving
you the abilities you have. And I just want to thank the
Lord for you and pray for wisdom and guidance as you minister
physically to me. And So what a blessing that is.
And it is has inspired me to make sure when I'm going through
times and I'm in times at the hospital where I'm talking to my
doctor, that I'm making them aware that I trust the Lord and
take those opportunities to share with them how God is
ministering to me through this time.
And hopefully let them see that I trust in the Lord at all
times. Yeah, there's been some powerful
testimonies over the years that I know about.
And I had AI had a church member who was almost 90 years old
probably when I first met him named Charles Greer.
And Charles either had seven or nine different kinds of cancer,
I can't remember which one. But but he was a, he was a
walking miracle in the sense that they had removed just about
everything you could remove from a human body and he was still
functioning. And I got a call one day early
on in my pastor it there and his sweet wife called me to the
house And basically they were sharing with me that he had just
been diagnosed with another kind of cancer.
And I, I was trying to be pastoral and and supportive and
was praying with him and, and it was really funny because he kept
interrupting me. He and he goes, you know, I
wonder why this is happening. And I thought, well, you know,
this is a a common question. They're going to question God.
How come this is happening to me and even be frustrated about.
But that wasn't it at all. He, he was looking at his wife
and he said, Gene, he, he goes, I wonder who we haven't shared
the gospel with at the cancer ward.
And they went to the same hospital every time, the same
floor that everybody knew him and he knew everybody who worked
there. And he goes, there must be a new
nurse, There must be a new tech, there must be a new Doctor.
And we haven't had a chance to share the gospel with him yet.
And I was like, you know, Charles, let me, let me pray for
you. No, no, let's pray for them.
I mean, and he wanted us to, he actually wanted me to pray for
the person that they hadn't met yet who needed to gospel.
So, so a couple of days go by, he goes to the hospital and I go
over to the hospital to see him, you know, third floor cancer
ward and same hospital he always went to.
And I walk in, he goes, pastor, I was right.
He goes, there was a new nurse on the floor that we've never
shared. In fact, here she is now she's
walking by the door. She calls her, he calls her in
there and he goes, I want you to meet our pastor.
And then she, you know, he introduces me to her and she is
she trusted in Jesus in our room last night and prayed to ask
Christ into her heart because I knew there was a reason why I
was here. And he was so sincere in that
thought process. And, and I, I'll never forget if
I could grow up to be Charles Grier.
He passed away from that cancer. And that we had, we had one of
the greatest homecoming celebrations I could ever
remember as far as a funeral goes, because of the impact that
he had had on so many lives. And that doesn't mean that
there's something flippant about the suffering.
That doesn't mean that there's something light about cancer or,
or, or deathly diseases or, or emotional or mental struggles.
These are real, real, real struggles.
So we don't make light of them. But at the same time, I
recognize the testimony that's possible not only while you're
going through it, but even afterwards.
What did you learn from that and how you could actually be
uniquely qualified to minister to somebody who's going through
something similarly? And any closing thoughts,
Charles? Just to remind us that the Lord
will be with us and guide us through these times.
He will lead us in passive righteousness for His name's
sake. I love that He restores.
He restores us. He restores our soul.
He knows how to speak to us through His Word.
And my prayer is, Lord, don't let me miss opportunities like
you just shared about Charles Grier.
Don't let me miss opportunities to glorify your name.
Do not let me miss opportunities to share.
My Lord and Savior is real and that He is with us.
Well, and the very fact that Charles Greer's name is
mentioned here is a continuation of the testimony, you know, that
that's part of the legacy, isn't it?
You know, I'm just reminded that you know, the Psalm 46 that you
mentioned earlier that he's a very present help in times of
trouble, even when the river rises and the earth shakes and
we we have to cling to that or, or I think in terms of Isaiah
chapter 26, verses 3 and 4, where it says you keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts
in you trust in the Lord forever.
For the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Which then segues right into what Paul wrote to, I think one
of his, his most loved churches in, in Philippi, where he says
that we don't have to be anxious about anything, but with a
spirit of Thanksgiving, we can let our requests be made known
to God who will give us a peace that surpasses all
understanding. That's the remarkable part of
it. Because the people who are
around you, very likely, especially some of the folks who
are not believers that you encounter along the way, that
the doctors, the nurses, the helpers along the way, they're
not going to understand how you can have peace in the midst of
such a storm. But he gives you a peace that
surpasses all understanding, that'll guard your hearts and
mind in Christ Jesus. And that testimony can ring out
in a way so authentically, so, so powerfully that that God can
use it to actually change lives. Again, we're not praying for
that. I'm not going to pray that
tomorrow you are sick or that you are weak so that that can
happen. But when it does happen, and in
our fallen creation, it is far too common, when it does happen
there, there's an opportunity to use the season to bring God
great glory. So as you finish your prayer
time, whether you're walking or sitting right now, just lift
that up to the Lord to say thank you.
That even in the midst of a sinful, fallen, imperfect,
broken creation, where disease exists, where broken
relationships exist, where death exists, that we can still cling
to you, and that we can also testify of your glory and our
ability to trust and have faith in You.
So you just take a moment as you pray.
The. The.
Well, I just want to thank you
for joining us as you finish up your walk and your prayer time.
Thank you for joining us in this episode of Walking in Prayer.
Tune into the other episodes. They're coming coming in several
different topical areas. So I just hope that you'll
TuneIn and listen to everyone of them.
I hope these are encouraging. Also, watch for one coming your
way that will actually help you in your Bible study or where
we're going to help guide you through questions to ask about
Scripture and how to interpret Scripture as you're reading your
Bible. And so I hope that'll be helpful
as well. Charles, thanks so much for
joining us again. Yeah, it's always a blessing.
And I look forward to joining you again soon.
If you don't have a church home, we'd love to have you.
Have you come see us on a Sunday or a Wednesday here at Inglewood
Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.
You can look us up and find our service times and we'd love to
see you. And if you, if you do come, come
and find me and introduce yourself to me.
I'd love to meet you. Look forward to seeing you.