At His Feet

A good friend of mine called me yesterday morning and told me that he was told that his mother only has days to live. As she was in the hospital, I called my wife and asked her if she would go with me during my lunch time to visit this dear family at the local hospital. She agreed and we went. After visiting for a short time their lunch was brought into the room and we knew it was time to go. I asked if we could pray with them before we left and they said it was fine. As I began to pray it dawned on me that I was not sure if they had told the mother about the sad prognosis. I prayed a prayer of praise and just asked God that he would help all of us to live a life that glorifies Him up to all of our final breaths.
When I returned home I discussed this with my wife and she directed me to something that she had studied during her Bible study that day. In Mark 2 we are given a story of a man with palsy who four of his friends bring to Jesus for healing. Upon arrival, they find that there are so many people there that they can not reach Jesus. They decide to carry their friend to the roof and lower him down to the feet of Jesus so that Jesus may intercede and heal this man. Jesus then forgives him of his sins (the real healing that all of us need) and it is not until later when He has a need to show His power that he heals the man of his palsy. We are not told the answer but did the man with palsy even know who Jesus was or what power he had. We can say one thing for certain, the four men who carried the sick man had faith in Jesus and they literally picked up and carried their friend to Jesus because they believed that Jesus could heal the man.
Assuming that my friend and family had not yet informed his mother of her condition and even if they had, there is a direct correlation here. Through my prayer and the many other prayers that are being lifted up to God on her behalf, we are literally laying this woman at the feet of Jesus and asking that his will be done and that his healing and/or comforting power reign down. If she does not know the prognosis, we are asking Jesus for her to do something that she currently does not even know to ask for.
We can apply this in so many different areas of our lives:
1. Parents of young children - Your kids don't know the snares and dangers of this world but when we pray for them are not laying them at Jesus feet and asking Him to protect them? We know it is impossible to protect them ourselves from all the turmoil of this world. Let us all continually lay our children down
2. Friends - We all have friends who we see that are either straying from the Truth or have never known the Truth. When we pray for them we are asking that Jesus do something that they themselves may not even see to ask for.
3. The world - We live in a world that no longer knows God. Yet, we as Christians continue to lay this world and its leaders at Jesus feet and ask that He restore this world and forgive it of its sins.
4. Elders, deacons, youth minister, preachers - We are the leaders of the Lord's church. We have been chosen and are to know that when we pray for our individual congregations or members of our youth groups that we are laying them at Jesus feet. The people who just come to church are not aware of the decisions and concern that we put into our chosen duties and often times do not see the areas of concern that we must act on. We pray for guidance in this area and often times these prayers go unheard and unknown by many. Let us all lay our congregations at Jesus feet more often.
5. One another - As fellow Christians we need to pray for each other. The New Testament is laden with passages describing the trials that we as Christians go through. Do any of us think that there are disciples out there who do not feel that struggles that we personally feel? Of course not. Let us pray for one another more often and ask that Jesus will intercede in all of our lives even when our fellow Christians may forget to pray.
A final personal example of how this takes effect involves two friends of mine. One is Jason, who I am blesssed to be in the Lord's service with, and the other friend, who I will not name, is a friend who's struggles and my concern have been written about before on this blog. The friend who is struggling with life honored me and a group of men with his presence at a recent men's ministry meeting we held. There came a point where this friend was moved to confess his struggles and to ask for help and prayers. My friend Jason immediately began to pray for this man and took his struggles and laid them at Jesus feet. I don't even think that this other man knows how to pray and I am certain that he is not clear of the healing power of Jesus. I ask that all who read this will think about someone in their life who needs Jesus to intercede and lay them at His feet.