Saturday, December 17, 2005

Circle of Chairs

They were camp chairs. Three of them. Sometimes four. We continuously had to re-situate the chairs to stay out of the equatorial sun.

Before us was a stack of requests. Prayer requests. From the Ugandan youth.

We read them, one by one. And prayed.

Some of the requests were expected...school fees, success with exams and further education, healing for physical problems...

Some of the requests stopped us in our tracks.

"Pray for my father to accept Jesus. Now he is not saved and he wants me to have sex with him in exchange for my school fees."

"Pray for me. I have a problem with looking at pornography."

"Pray for me...I have problems with lust."

"Pray for my family. They chased me away when I chose to follow Jesus. Now I have no where to go."

"Pray for me to have courage. I am attending an Islamic university and I am a Christian. I am treated badly. Pray that I will have courage to share my faith with the Muslims in my school."

Everyday, for three days, I was honored to sit around the throne of God, in His glorious presence, and interede for these precious Creations of His.
He already knew what we were going to talk about in these moments. His Perfect Heart has already broken over the atrocities these youth have faced in their young lives. And in the midst of governing the Universe...our amazing Creator allowed us access to...Himself. His Ear. His Heart. His Compassion. His Able-ness.

I was intereceding with powerful warrior friends. Mike. Judy. Phillip.

All believers. Witnesses to God's healing hand. God's presence in the midst of pain. God's victories. They are survivors of Satan's attacks and reign on this earth. And yet they remain, firmly in God's protective hand. It was an honor to stand with them in the battle.

Last week, many things happened. Many things worthy of Praise. But for me...the highlight of the week was the circle of chairs.

I was in the circle to lift up others. But in the process, I was brought before Him too. All my angst, joy, stress, blessing, victory, defeat...all is laid open before that Holy, safe throne.

His Throne. Our camp chairs. His availability and promise. Amazing.

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matt 18:19-20

5 comments:

Jim Coffey said...

I continue to be amazed every time I read. God Bless, thanks for sharing this with us ... we take so much for granted.

Lori Ann said...

Sounds like it was a very fruitful time. Isn't it amazing that those could be some of the same things in our own places of worship!
Keeping you all in prayer.

Aimee Jo said...

We'll definitely pray for those people's requests. WOW-- to think that I believe that my life is rough sometimes. Thanks for sharing this, Cheryl.

Steve Maxwell said...

Thanks for the encouragement. Oh the power of prayer! Thank you God!

Trisha said...

Remembering times of my own sitting in a similar "circle of chairs" with you and Jeff. What a blessing it is to hear your heart poured out to our Father! I look forward to lots more circles with you, my friend!