Dear John 3 Those Not Prayed For

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Next to youngest granddaughter

January 3
One of our daughters emailed me Philemon 1:7 in The Message translation the other day.

Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel.
Philemon 1:7

That's the way we should feel about John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whomever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.

What a deep, deep love!
Am asking  myself this morning…How deep is my love for others?
The phrase so loved the world, has me also asking…How extensive is my love?

This month I'm sold out to pray with fervor for our children and grandchildren, but God loved beyond his Son, didn't he.  He loved the world.  I've just started the novel Orphan Train, which is set in 1929 and delves into what happened to many immigrant orphans who were left stranded when their parents died here in America.  Here is where God has just taken me…"I'm calling you to pray for the children who have no one praying for them. Spiritual orphans, with no parents or grandparents praying over them.  There is room in your prayer life for them."

Three days into what I thought God was calling me to do this month and he has gone and enlarged my territory.  That's God!

Before I allowed myself to become overwhelmed by the sad reality that so many are never prayed over, my gears shifted and I was giving praise for the Christian school, where my husband is Head of School.  In addition to teachers praying for their specific students, every child's name is in a rotating file and at faculty meetings those names are regularly pulled out and prayed over.   Next my mind flashed to so many church Sunday schools and AWANA programs in this country. Teachers in those classrooms are committed to pray weekly for those children.  So the discipline is for me to listen to the Lord, as he places on my heart the children he wants me praying for.

In an instant, He has given me a prayer plan!  Go God!

Oh, Father I do believe in your Son and am so thankful he came to save me from my sins, so that I can experience eternal life. Forgive me for staying in  my small circle at times and not looking outward at what You want done.  "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to the spirit." John 3:6
Come Holy Spirit come and work in my life today.  In Jesus' Name, Amen

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