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“We pray so that you are not alone”

Feb 22, 2016 | Prayer

“I love the fact that because we can choose to lift someone up in prayer, they are no longer alone in their situation,” says prayer pastor Michelle, based in a Street Pastors team in Cornwall.

outstretched hands in prayer“One night we’d been praying for a lad who had drunk far too much and had passed out by the Castle pub with a friend sitting by his side. CCTV had been so concerned about this boy, that while the team was on their break, they had called us over the radio to ask if we could walk that way and check on the boy. They said that the man on the ground had not moved and the other boy was looking worried.

“The team put their coats back on and got ready to leave, and me and David, the two prayer pastors that night, started to pray. Suddenly David pulled his chair up to mine and opened a notebook. On a clean page he drew two lines. ‘Two lines, for the two boys outside the Castle,’ he said. He then he circled them with a quick curve of the pen, and explained to me that because we were praying, those boys were no longer alone.

“He then added an arrow, which, he said, represented the street pastors moving towards them. He used another line on the page to symbolise the CCTV operator. David then drew circles around all of these lines, saying ‘God is around all of them.’

“It was the simplest of drawings, but at the time it perfectly expressed our belief that prayer invites God into any and every situation. I love that idea! It is one of my greatest sorrows that those who don’t know Jesus walk through life alone. They have to face every challenge, every argument, every harsh word … everything … alone.

“Jesus said ‘I do not leave you as orphans.’ We are filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is one that invades us and fills us. The Bible describes this as a stream of living water – something that can spread and fill every part of us and every situation that we face.

“Isn’t it amazing that when we pray for other people we are giving them a break from doing life alone? It’s just as Jesus said to Paul when he spoke to him dramatically on the road to Damascus – ‘It is hard for you to go against the grain.’ I believe that life without God is like swimming against the tide or kicking against the goad. It is not easy to run from God, doing life alone, not having your Creator to lead you and guide you. Christians should be compassionate towards people who struggling – and we can lift them up in prayer and ask for help for them.”