All I Can Do ...

Matthew 18:20 -- "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

As my dearest friend and I pilfered through a few home goods during our usual thrift shop hop, she mentioned to me that at one point in her life, she felt  that she really wasn't offering much when she said: "I'll keep you in my prayers". She told me that she felt powerless in some cases when that's all she could do for someone in need. She then stopped walking and looked me right in the eye as she said - "but wait a minute, I'm on my knees asking a very Mighty God to intercede. That's not a small thing."

No. It really isn't a small thing at all. 

And we should never use those words unless we really mean them.  

While anxiously grasping at news snip-its that might give me detailed information about what's going on in the Philippines, I too felt a bit powerless as I was introduced to images and descriptions of the devastation caused by the worst Typhoon ever to bare down on that beautiful cluster of islands. Fellow missionaries and mk's [missionary kids] posted fervently on Facebook - granting me updates and shared concern for those that we love in the country we called home for so many years. I could not help but be moved to tears. I felt like my hands were tied and that there was nothing I could do for those hurting and injured people whose families have been ripped apart.

But my friends words echoed around in my head - I'm on my knees asking a very Mighty God to intercede, to comfort, and to provide. I know that when I give to the SBC and the International Mission Board funds are provided where help is most needed in the country of my childhood. My hands are anything BUT tied. 

When it feels like hitting the ground with our faces in humility, knees to the floor and hearts outstretched toward Heaven as we pray to our Creator on behalf of some one else is "all we can do" -- remember, "all we can do" is a very powerful thing, indeed. In the book of Matthew Jesus tells us that where even just two or three are gathered in his name - there he is, also. THAT my friends, is HUGE! 


In Romans verse 26 of chapter 8 - we are given an even stronger example of God's promises in our prayers: "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;"

In the aftermath, deep in the rubble and the debris that was once somebody's home or livelihood, in the faces of children who can no longer find their parents, in the broken communication lines that block families from hearing the voices of their loved ones - the Spirit Himself also helps with groanings too deep for words. 

On our knees before a very Mighty God isn't "all we can do" .... it's EVERYTHING we can do.