Mend Workshops - Resource for stepfamilies, single parents, marriages in conflict

"I'm Going to Write This Prescription. Fill It Immediately"

An excerpt from the book

Stick out your Tongue and Say, "Ahhh"

Please pray for my family

Steve and Darlene were obviously troubled when they walked into the blended family Sunday school class. During the opening minutes of sharing they dropped a bomb shell on the other couples. Their twenty-one year old daughter, who had been clinically depressed from years had now taken a turn for the worse. We knew that she had been unable to keep a job or enter into a healthy relationship. Steve had previously told the class he was sure she would never be able - even to live on her own.

That morning they told us, "we do not know if she will be alive when we go home. She has attempted suicide before but only as a means for attention. Lately she has become so despondent, this time, we fear that no matter what we do, she will kill herself."

The class was stunned as Steve and Darlene shared their fears and their heart. "What can we do?" the class asked. Steve simply said, "pray for her".

How often do we hear those words as if prayer is the last course of action. If there are no other alternatives then we ask others to pray. On this morning, the class took the couple's answer to heart and they began to pray for the girl. Steve also felt an added responsibility to pray . . . so . . . for the next two weeks, he would pray from 4:00 to 5:00 am for his daughter and the rest of his family.

One morning he sensed the Lord telling him that the light of the Word would strengthen his daughter and help her through her depression and despondency. The twenty-one year old, however, was anything but pro-Christian. She resented the Church, had publicly confessed her anger toward God and never expressed an interest in reading the Bible.

Later that day she approached Steve. He had said nothing to her about what he felt the Lord was telling him. She asked him, "If I were to start reading somewhere in the Bible, where should I start?" Steve was stunned. "I would start in the book of Psalm or perhaps in the New Testament, say the Gospel of John." he answered. He was glad she had asked the question because the last thing he would have advised her would be to start in Genesis and muddle forward through the Old Testament.

She looked puzzled at him, "I think it makes more sense to start at the beginning." She found a Bible, sat on a comfortable chair and began reading . . . and reading . . . and reading some more. In forty-five days she had finished the entire Bible, was free from her depression, seeking employment and looking for an apartment. What trouble are you facing? What sickness needs to be healed in your home. James is handing you a prescription. With it he tells the believers, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

James 5

The Prayer of Faith

13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.

14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayer earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,

20 remember this; Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins.

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