Prayer

Beginning a New Year in Nursing Home Ministry

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Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance 
the race marked out for us, Hebrews 12:1 NIV

As we enter a New Year of nursing home ministry, filled with opportunities; challenges and unseen difficulties; I am tempted to sit down, draw up plans and set personal goals. The problem with that line of thinking is that it offers a temporary sense of peace while leaving out the most important thing, which is prayer. Prayer is like the way runners wait with both patience and hope for the starting gun to begin their race. As we spend time in prayer, God focuses our mind on His plans and purposes for the race that He has designed for us to run. He holds in His hands Heaven’ s starting gun, and it is He who will record our time at the finish line. He will be the judge of what matters because He is He is our life coach! So, let’s listen to His voice and wait eagerly for Him and remember that everything we do, say, or give begins with Him. We must go to Nursing Home, not just to make us feel better about ourselves, but to carry the message of the Hope of Jesus. He cares about the people who push their walkers or wheel through the halls, and He is sending us to be their neighbors. We each have different abilities, personalities, and weaknesses that God wants to use. He has better plans for how to reach people than we do. He has new and more creative ideas than we could ever come up with on our own. What we need to do is to wait for Him and listen for His starting gun. It is almost time for the race to begin. He promises that we will run without becoming weary if we wait for Him, and walk with Him, God assures us that He will light the path all through the year ahead.

The Value of Pennies

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And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. Mark 12:42-43 ESV

Last year after we finished our Christmas caroling at a nursing home, we began to pass out large print Christmas devotional books as our gift to the residents. Most of them lit up with smiles and thanked us for the books as our volunteers handed them out. But as they got to the back of the room, one lady gently reached out and slipped three one-dollar bills into their hand. Despite urging her that she didn’t need to pay for our gift, the woman insisted, “No please take it! I want to give something!”

In that dear lady I suddenly saw the widow in today’s verse. She showed us that the longing to give is a basic desire of every Christian heart. Though some of us, have had that desire dampened by people who have taken unfair advantage of us, Jesus never mentioned anything about how well the two little coins the widow contributed, were spent. What made her gift precious was the love that she gave it with. None of the rich guys who went ahead of her had impressed Jesus. But the small sacrifice that that woman eagerly gave was a treasure to Him. Her two pennies and our lady’s three dollars remind us that whether we offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh or just two pennies, God sees more than pennies. He is watching our hearts today!

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A Time for Praise

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 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. James 5:13 ESV

The other day as we looked at the hymn, “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” I wrote about the times when we need to simply fall to our knees and watch with the Lord in our own Garden of Gethsemane. But there are also times when God delights in a tidal wave of praise and gratitude, such as James describes here. There are few places where such praise seems more out of place than a long-term care facility, but my friends there teach me that sometimes there is nothing better than good old-fashioned hand-clapping praise. Last week, they showed us just how that is done, when as my former pastor used to say, “If you can’t clap on that song, your arm must be broken!” I do hope that whatever situation you find yourself in this Thanksgiving, that you will find a way to praise, whether in health or sickness, surrounded by family or alone in your room, because God loves us and sent His only Son, to pray for us, heal us, wash away our sins and to die in our place. How can we not find times of joyful abandon to simply: “Call Him Up” – “Have a Little Talk With Jesus,” and tell Him that we are the ones who are “Standing in the Need of Prayer?”