Walking for the Weak

Greetings everyone. This is Doctor John Ewart.

I'm the senior pastor at Englewood Baptist Church in

Rocky Mount, NC, and I just want to welcome you to this episode

of Walking in Prayer. I hope that you've been

listening to this some of these podcast episodes as we've just

been walking together through how to pray for various areas of

our life and for one another. We've talked in the past, if

you'll go back and look at some of our episodes, we've talked

about how to pray in a general way.

We've talked about how to pray for the lost another.

So I just hope you'll tune into all of these episodes.

These can be used in a couple of ways.

One is you could actually use these as you are walking, which

was the original idea that as you're out walking the dog,

walking around the neighborhood, walking with your spouse or

friends, that you might just listen to these and and actually

have a guided prayer walk as you're walking, praying for your

neighbors and your world. They could also be used as

you're at home sitting and having your quiet time.

And so you enjoy these. I hope they're helpful.

We've enjoyed doing these. And I'm joined today by Pastor

Charles Taylor, who is our our pastor of prayer here, pastor of

prayer at Inglewood and also of our our member care.

And so today we want to talk about how to pray for the weak.

What we mean by that? Is there people that we know who

are not feeling well? They could be physical, it could

be emotional or mental. So we're going to focus on some

of those prayers of intercession, encouragement, how

to uplift one another when people might be physically ill

and, or, and some other way they're just not feeling well or

they're just weak in their life right now.

So we, we don't know a better way to pray than to ask for

healing. We, we really don't have a

better direction than that. And so we know that God heals in

a number of different ways. And so when we do pray for those

who are sick, we generally begin with that idea of Lord, heal

them, please, Father, heal them of this.

When we're visiting somebody in the hospital or somebody who's

homebound or somebody who's really struggling with something

in their life, we pray for that healing because we we have no

better way to pray than that. And we believe that God hears

us, but we also recognize that his timing, his method may not

be ours. And so we also recognize that we

have to wait upon him and be patient with what he's going

going to do. So as you begin your walk or you

begin your prayer time, just join us as we guide you through

some scripture and through a few principles and ideas.

In fact, Charles, thank you for being here.

And why don't you read a passage?

There's a great passage in James chapter 5, for example.

James 5 · chapter mention

Yes, James 513 and 15 through 15.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call the elders of the

church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in

the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will

save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and

if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Yeah, that's a powerful passage. And so we want to pray for

people who are spiritually sick who are lost.

And there's an entire episode about that.

But we also recognize the Bible does command us to pray for

those who are physically sick as well as maybe maybe it's a it's

a, a mental or emotional this year they're going through.

I have a brother who's a medical doctor and he and I talk about

this quite a bit to where he believes that God has called him

into medicine in order to help people.

And I'm often reminded of what the book of Exodus describes it

as when they were building and designing the Tabernacle and the

the priestly garments. And it says that the the Lord

gave a spirit of skill to those artisans.

And I believe he does the same things for those who help and

care for us. So one of the things we want to

do is we pray for healing. We want to pray for the sick

person, obviously. And you're going to want to take

a couple of moments to think about those in your life who

might be suffering in some way. And we'll give you time to pray,

but while you're doing that, also think about those that have

been given this spirit of skill, those who are in the medical

fields, those who, who are helping and, and are, are being

used by God to, to either counsel or to provide medicine

or to provide treatment. And so this is including those

who would help us with our mental as well as emotional

health as well. So, so God may choose to use

them in a healing process. So Pastor Charles, do you have

something maybe from the Psalms that you could read to us to

encourage us? Yes, Pastor Psalms one O 3,

especially verses 2 through 5 where the psalmist said Bless

the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

Who forgives all your iniquity? Who heals all your diseases?

Who redeems your life from the pit?

Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy?

Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like

the Eagles? And so for a few moments, just

think about praying for healing again.

That's our first thought. When someone's sick, we pray

that God would heal them. Or when somebody's facing

surgery or maybe, you know, somebody facing cancer treatment

or something serious like that, or somebody who's who's really

emotionally or just just mentally not doing well right

now. So how could you pray that God

would bring healing? So take just a few moments and

as we pause to pray for those things.

The. The.

The. The.

We also want to encourage you to pray for patience and endurance,

which is often very difficult for people who are suffering and

and hurting. It's difficult when we don't

feel well, but there can be so many lessons to learn that God

might be trying to teach us through an illness or through a

difficult season. And so we often hear the phrase

in the Bible, waiting upon the Lord.

Charles. Charles, talk to us a little bit

about that. Pastor John Also early this year

I did not feel well. I was sick, couldn't get well.

I relapsed many, many times. And so I kept asking the Lord,

what do you want me to learn? And waiting upon the Lord was

especially a essential lesson for me to trust in God's timing

and plan and actively seeking his will while remaining patient

and hopeful. That takes the strength and the

power of God. We're we're actually looking for

his intervention, his plan. It's not just about inactivity,

waiting, and sitting around, but rather a state of expectant

trust and reliance on God's guidance.

And this involves actively walking with God, praying and

seeking His wisdom, all while trusting that He is working like

you said earlier, even when His timing is not clear to us.

Yeah, that's really powerful and, and, and difficult.

I really do believe it's difficult.

The, the lessons that we try to learn, the strength and patience

that we have to sometimes learn that during these difficult

times for us. Or, or, or maybe, you know,

maybe it's even harder when it's a, a family member, somebody

that you love dearly and you're watching them go through things

and you, you're questioning God and you're wondering why is this

happening? And, and how can I, how can I

make it through it? Even though I'm not the one

who's really going through it? I just have such empathy and

sympathy for them, a child or a spouse or a friend.

And then also think about the caregivers and the fact that,

you know, what, the strength and endurance that nurses and, and,

and medical tech technicians have to have and counselors,

that the emotional weight that counselors have to deal with.

Even you, as you do member care here at the church that the the

weight that we have to to bear with others is often very

difficult. So what are some passages maybe

that would help us related to suffering and enduring things

that we could learn about and and think through together?

Pastor Charles. Yes, and when people ask me to

pray for them when they're not well or they're going through a

crisis or they're suffering, I do ask the Lord first of all

that they will look to Him. I think about Proverbs 3, five

and six. Trust in the Lord with all your

heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your

ways. Acknowledge Him and He will make

straight your path. Pastor John.

Also, I think about Psalms 46, that whole passage of it's just

really tremendous. But. 4611 The Lord of hosts is

with us, the God of Jacob. It is our fortress or our

refuge. And I remind people that the

Lord is with us. He is not forgotten us and we

can look to him here. Romans 818 Paul wrote.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time

are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to

us. And I know that seems so far

away when we're going through pain and we're going through

suffering, but to remember to worship the Lord, to look to

Him, and to expect and trust Him that He will be with us and walk

with us and lead us. Yeah, that's powerful.

And and the idea of waiting upon the Lord in the Old Testament,

I've actually had to look up what the Hebrew kind of was

referring to. And and that's not just some

passive I'm doing nothing while I hope God does something.

Waiting is a is anticipation. It's expectation, it's hope.

I'm expecting God to do something.

Sometimes it may not happen as soon as I wish it would it, you

know, and sometimes we even have to understand why the illness

won't go away. You know, why, why we're why

we're stuck with it. It seems that almost as like

Paul's thorn in the flesh idea or the woman who, who was

bleeding for years before she finally met Jesus, you know,

and, and to think about why, why won't this go away?

One of the things that I'm going to be teaching about in another

session in another format is, is the problem of evil.

And, and why, why do people suffer?

Why did that person get healed and another person not be

healed? You know, and we, we've got to

understand that sometimes healing takes place in ways that

we don't, we don't understand, or maybe we don't even want to.

God actually can heal a believer by taking them home and

restoring them completely. And and that's a very difficult

idea for a lot of us, but but to to think about suffering and

pain. You have any other thoughts

about suffering and pain before we take a time to pray?

Well, I know in God's words, suffering and pain are presented

as a multifaceted experience with spiritual, physical and

emotional dimensions. They are often linked to the

consequences of sin and the brokenness of this world, but

also Pastor John, for opportunities for growth and

testing and ultimately glorifying God.

And so when I pray for others, and I'm asking God to help me to

pray for others correctly, I pray that as they go through

this time that they will lean and rest upon Him and He will be

glorified as they trust Him and wait on Him.

Right, So let's take just a few moments and not only have you

been praying for healing, which is something you should continue

to do, but but also pray for the patience and endurance that this

person, this person or these persons in your life, or maybe

it's you need to be able to experience and learn.

So just take a moment as you pray through some of these

ideas. The.

The. The.

The. The.

And as we continue as pastor, Charles was just saying, you

know, we were talking about that we also want to pray that this

time would draw us closer to God and that the lessons we learned

wouldn't just be lessons, but they would actually translate

into life. And so we want to pray that that

through what we are enduring, through what we're trying to get

through, frankly, and be healed from, to be released from, we

also recognize that this this could be a spiritual journey

that actually impacts us for the rest of our lives.

And so Charles talk about how to pray that his presence would be

really very real to us. We desire for God to be close to

us and He says He is, but many times we do not realize we're

not aware of His presence. So when I'm praying for others I

I pray that they would be aware that He really is with them.

The reality of His presence will bring peace and power to their

lives. Psalm 62, eight, the psalmist

wrote. Trust in him at all times.

You people pour out your heart before him.

God is a refuge. God is with us.

He's a very present help in time of trouble because he's a very

present help. But many times we just need to

be aware that he is with us. Psalms 23 is a Psalm.

I know we use a lot of times when the passing of a loved one

happens, but I say many times Psalms 23 is for the living.

It's a daily Psalms that we can go to talks about us being aware

of his presence, David wrote. The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green

pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of

righteousness for his name's sake.

So here's the David, here's the psalmist, here's the person

who's going through things and they are aware that the Lord is

with them and he's leading them. He even says, even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

for you are with me. The psalmist is very aware of

the presence of the Lord. I will fear no evil, for you are

with me. Your rod and your staff, they

comfort me. You prepare a table before me in

the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall

follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the

house or the presence of the Lord forever.

So as I'm praying Pastor John for others, I pray that they

would be aware that the Lord is leading them, but to be aware

that He's leading them and He's guiding them and He's protecting

them. He's providing for them.

And so I pray for others that they would be so aware of the

presence and the reality of God as they go through this crisis.

Yeah. And that dependence upon him

actually will not only allow our faith to grow it, it'll often

force it to grow. It'll stretch us.

And we don't necessarily always enjoy that experience, to be

honest. But but these are often

necessary times. And one of the things that we

would often, or I've often said to people is because of what you

went through, there are going to be lessons that you're going to

be able to pass on to others. And there's a strength that

those who have been through some things have their faith gets is

deepened and their, their awareness of others is often

strengthened because they themselves have gone through

these experiences. So not only they, they recognize

the presence of the Lord, but they also have a higher

sensitivity to ministry even and, and how to help others.

And so even though we certainly are never going to pray that

we're sick, we're not going to pray that, that we lose a loved

one and that we experience grief.

We recognize that in the midst of something that could be so

horrible a part of the fallen creation that was not a part of

the original design, that what could be evil, what could be

intended for evil, God can still bring something very good out of

it. And, and, and not only help us

and strengthen us, but also help others.

So as we think about praying, about drawing closer to the

Lord, Pastor Charles, do you have any other words for us

before we pray? Just ask the Lord to as you are

going through this time to lean on Him and to pray for others to

look to Him with trust, trusting the Lord, trusting Him to do

what He is wanting to do in your life and in the lives of your

loved ones and others. And maybe you're just walking

around and on the street in your neighborhood and there may be

people you don't even know. But you may know that somethings

you've seen the EMS truck pull in the driveway or you've seen

things happening and that say, hey, this person is going

through a difficult time. The Lord knows exactly what that

time is and what they're going through.

Ask the Lord to that that they would be aware that He loves

them, He cares for them, and He has a plan for their lives.

So let's just take a moment. Whether you're walking right

now, as Charles alluded, or whether you're in the middle of

your personal quiet time, they'll be people that you know

already that are suffering and going through things, but also

others in your world, your neighborhood.

And maybe you see that wheelchair ramp, or maybe you

see that handicap sticker, or maybe, as Charles said, you see

even something more dramatic. So to think about who you could

pray for that that not only would they be healed and not

only would they have patience and endurance, but also that

this would be a time that would draw them closer to God.

So take a moment and just pray for those things.

The. The.

The. The.

The. And finally, we want to pray

that this time could be used to actually draw others to him, Not

that this is our our primary motive when somebody is sick or

somebody is hurting or someone has surgery or someone faces

cancer or even faces death or, or some kind of mental illness

or, or emotional distress. But there are moments in these

to where there's actually a gospel opportunity.

At times. People are watching you, People

are going to see how you are going through what you're going

through. And as believers, if we don't go

through these experiences in a different way, then perhaps

we're missing an opportunity to display Christ to others.

And so this can be a time that God can actually use to draw

others to him. And so think about the

testimonies to your caregivers, testimony to the rest of your

family, your friends, your neighbors, even fellow believers

who are wondering how you're facing, what you're facing now.

Charles, what do you think about that?

Yes, like you, Pastor John, I've been in the hospital rooms or

the the prep time right before surgery with someone and I've

been so amazed as I, as I've experienced God's presence, as

the person who's getting ready to go into surgery says to the

doctor or to the medical team, can I pray for you?

I'm trusting in the Lord. I know he's with me and I'm

thankful for how God skilled you and I'm so thankful God's giving

you the abilities you have. And I just want to thank the

Lord for you and pray for wisdom and guidance as you minister

physically to me. And So what a blessing that is.

And it is has inspired me to make sure when I'm going through

times and I'm in times at the hospital where I'm talking to my

doctor, that I'm making them aware that I trust the Lord and

take those opportunities to share with them how God is

ministering to me through this time.

And hopefully let them see that I trust in the Lord at all

times. Yeah, there's been some powerful

testimonies over the years that I know about.

And I had AI had a church member who was almost 90 years old

probably when I first met him named Charles Greer.

And Charles either had seven or nine different kinds of cancer,

I can't remember which one. But but he was a, he was a

walking miracle in the sense that they had removed just about

everything you could remove from a human body and he was still

functioning. And I got a call one day early

on in my pastor it there and his sweet wife called me to the

house And basically they were sharing with me that he had just

been diagnosed with another kind of cancer.

And I, I was trying to be pastoral and and supportive and

was praying with him and, and it was really funny because he kept

interrupting me. He and he goes, you know, I

wonder why this is happening. And I thought, well, you know,

this is a a common question. They're going to question God.

How come this is happening to me and even be frustrated about.

But that wasn't it at all. He, he was looking at his wife

and he said, Gene, he, he goes, I wonder who we haven't shared

the gospel with at the cancer ward.

And they went to the same hospital every time, the same

floor that everybody knew him and he knew everybody who worked

there. And he goes, there must be a new

nurse, There must be a new tech, there must be a new Doctor.

And we haven't had a chance to share the gospel with him yet.

And I was like, you know, Charles, let me, let me pray for

you. No, no, let's pray for them.

I mean, and he wanted us to, he actually wanted me to pray for

the person that they hadn't met yet who needed to gospel.

So, so a couple of days go by, he goes to the hospital and I go

over to the hospital to see him, you know, third floor cancer

ward and same hospital he always went to.

And I walk in, he goes, pastor, I was right.

He goes, there was a new nurse on the floor that we've never

shared. In fact, here she is now she's

walking by the door. She calls her, he calls her in

there and he goes, I want you to meet our pastor.

And then she, you know, he introduces me to her and she is

she trusted in Jesus in our room last night and prayed to ask

Christ into her heart because I knew there was a reason why I

was here. And he was so sincere in that

thought process. And, and I, I'll never forget if

I could grow up to be Charles Grier.

He passed away from that cancer. And that we had, we had one of

the greatest homecoming celebrations I could ever

remember as far as a funeral goes, because of the impact that

he had had on so many lives. And that doesn't mean that

there's something flippant about the suffering.

That doesn't mean that there's something light about cancer or,

or, or deathly diseases or, or emotional or mental struggles.

These are real, real, real struggles.

So we don't make light of them. But at the same time, I

recognize the testimony that's possible not only while you're

going through it, but even afterwards.

What did you learn from that and how you could actually be

uniquely qualified to minister to somebody who's going through

something similarly? And any closing thoughts,

Charles? Just to remind us that the Lord

will be with us and guide us through these times.

He will lead us in passive righteousness for His name's

sake. I love that He restores.

He restores us. He restores our soul.

He knows how to speak to us through His Word.

And my prayer is, Lord, don't let me miss opportunities like

you just shared about Charles Grier.

Don't let me miss opportunities to glorify your name.

Do not let me miss opportunities to share.

My Lord and Savior is real and that He is with us.

Well, and the very fact that Charles Greer's name is

mentioned here is a continuation of the testimony, you know, that

that's part of the legacy, isn't it?

You know, I'm just reminded that you know, the Psalm 46 that you

mentioned earlier that he's a very present help in times of

trouble, even when the river rises and the earth shakes and

we we have to cling to that or, or I think in terms of Isaiah

Isaiah 26:3

chapter 26, verses 3 and 4, where it says you keep him in

perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts

in you trust in the Lord forever.

For the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Which then segues right into what Paul wrote to, I think one

of his, his most loved churches in, in Philippi, where he says

that we don't have to be anxious about anything, but with a

spirit of Thanksgiving, we can let our requests be made known

to God who will give us a peace that surpasses all

understanding. That's the remarkable part of

it. Because the people who are

around you, very likely, especially some of the folks who

are not believers that you encounter along the way, that

the doctors, the nurses, the helpers along the way, they're

not going to understand how you can have peace in the midst of

such a storm. But he gives you a peace that

surpasses all understanding, that'll guard your hearts and

mind in Christ Jesus. And that testimony can ring out

in a way so authentically, so, so powerfully that that God can

use it to actually change lives. Again, we're not praying for

that. I'm not going to pray that

tomorrow you are sick or that you are weak so that that can

happen. But when it does happen, and in

our fallen creation, it is far too common, when it does happen

there, there's an opportunity to use the season to bring God

great glory. So as you finish your prayer

time, whether you're walking or sitting right now, just lift

that up to the Lord to say thank you.

That even in the midst of a sinful, fallen, imperfect,

broken creation, where disease exists, where broken

relationships exist, where death exists, that we can still cling

to you, and that we can also testify of your glory and our

ability to trust and have faith in You.

So you just take a moment as you pray.

The. The.

The. The.

The. Well, I just want to thank you

for joining us as you finish up your walk and your prayer time.

Thank you for joining us in this episode of Walking in Prayer.

Tune into the other episodes. They're coming coming in several

different topical areas. So I just hope that you'll

TuneIn and listen to everyone of them.

I hope these are encouraging. Also, watch for one coming your

way that will actually help you in your Bible study or where

we're going to help guide you through questions to ask about

Scripture and how to interpret Scripture as you're reading your

Bible. And so I hope that'll be helpful

as well. Charles, thanks so much for

joining us again. Yeah, it's always a blessing.

And I look forward to joining you again soon.

If you don't have a church home, we'd love to have you.

Have you come see us on a Sunday or a Wednesday here at Inglewood

Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.

You can look us up and find our service times and we'd love to

see you. And if you, if you do come, come

and find me and introduce yourself to me.

I'd love to meet you. Look forward to seeing you.