February 6 ~ Genesis 17:18-20
Then he asked God, "Why not let Ishmael inherit what you have promised me?" But God answered: No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac, and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants. I have heard what you asked me to do for Ishmael, and so I will also bless him with many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make his family a great nation.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
You may have seen the movie Pay It Forward. The premise is that when someone does
something nice for you, instead of repaying the person who did the good deed, you “pay it forward” and do something nice for another person. Often, this has remarkable results for everyone involved.
Intercessory prayer – praying for someone else – is a lot like “paying it forward.” And when we pray for others from our heart… out of a deep sense of love and concern for that person and not just “lip service,” the blessings multiply. That’s what happened with Abraham. Rather than ask God to do extraordinary things and give him a child with his wife Sarah, Abraham said (paraphrasing here), “Just bless my son Ishmael, and we’ll call it good.” But God saw Abraham’s humility and heart and decided to bless him and his wife, Sarah – AND his son Ishmael.
I’m not saying that every time you pray for someone else, you will get an inheritance or some big prize. But I can tell you from experience that the times I have reached out to someone else, in prayer or in some other gesture, I felt like I got the bigger blessing. God hears our prayers – and he hears the prayers we offer for others. Who have you prayed for lately? Are you “paying it forward?”
©2009 Debbie Robus
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