Day 188- A Prayer Walking First

Today I visited a friend in the hospital in Dothan.  Before I drove home, I went to the park in Dothan and walked on the walking track they have there.  I was also thinking about a "first."  A "first" had been on my mind for most of the day.  Last week when we were in North Carolina the "firsts" were easier and a lot of fun.  Today presented a tougher challenge.

As I started walking on the walking trail I immediately noticed that there were a decent number of other people out walking.  I usually walk around the house and church here and never see anyone else out walking.  It occurred to me that I could pray for each person I saw walking. Today, I prayed for each person I saw walking while walking as my "first."

This was an interesting way to spend my time walking.  My mind can run to all kinds of places when I'm walking and not all of them are good.  There were a good many people out walking today so at least every 60-90seconds or so I was praying for someone.  This way my mind did not have a lot of opportunity to stray for long. I noticed that when I finished praying for the people on the walking trail I would think about other people I knew that I could be praying for and I would spend time praying for them as well.  It was a pretty cool prayer walk.

Getting ready to walk

Post walk

 Meal time

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The pictures I took were kind of far away.  I decided that if I took a close up of people walking while I was walking it would be kind of creepy. I had no desire to be considered creepy or have my phone snatched away.  I took far away pictures.

As I was walking and praying, a verse came to mind.  Romans 8:26 is the verse that came to mind which says, "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."  I did not know any of these people I saw walking or what to pray for concerning them.  This encouraged me to continually ask the Spirit to lead me in how to pray.  This was a pretty fun exercise in trying to be led by the Spirit in prayer.  Here are some of the ways that I ended up praying. I saw some people that probably will not be featured on the cover of a fitness magazine next month (I'm in that group). I prayed they would know God loved them as they are and they don't have to get better to be loved by God.  There were some that might could be on a fitness magazine cover.  I prayed they would know that God loves them for who they are and not for how they look.  I saw a family or two and I prayed they would raise their children in the ways of Christ and they would be the kind of family that would say like Joshua of old, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  I saw one guy that looked very tired and I prayed he would not grow weary in well doing and would know that serving the Lord was worth the effort. Actually, I saw quite a few people like that and prayed that for them.  A few people were running and looked like they could run for miles. I prayed they would lay aside the sin and weight that so easily entangles and run their race with their eyes fixed on Jesus.  There was this one person that looked really disciplined and I prayed that he would go wild for Jesus. I also noticed that while I tried to smile and nod my head or say hey, not many responded. Most looked kind of miserable and out of sorts. I prayed that the joy of the Lord would be their strength; at least enough to say hey. Of course, I prayed for all of them to come to know Christ in a real and personal way if they did not already. It was pretty interesting way to pray and a "first" that I'm really glad I did.  Feel free to pray for the people around you and if you don't know of anyone to pray for, pray for me please!

Praying for the abundant life
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Firehouse subs
2. The walking trail in Dothan
3. Privilege of prayer