"When Time For Prayer Is Over"
<p class="default"> Christian Encouragement September 17, 2001 Hello Everyone! When I was 19, I attended the funeral of a very old man. I hardly knew him. He was the grandfather of my boyfriend and the family graciously allowed me to sit with them. I had never been to a funeral before even though I had lost loved ones of my own in the past. This would turn out to be a real experience for me. As I sat there, carefully paying attention to the service, I noticed everyone around me holding "prayer beads". I didn't understand the purpose of these until the priest and the congregation began to say phrases over and over like some sort of chant. I didn't have any because I was "the Baptist girl". I started to feel a little uncomfortable, not because I didn't have beads, but because I realized they were praying for the soul of this departed man to pass from "limbo" to Heaven. A deep sadness suddenly overwhelmed me. I put my head down and started to cry. My boyfriend jabbed me in the ribs and whispered, "What's wrong with you? You hardly knew him." I lifted my head and looked all around. I was the only one sobbing. People were looking at me. I put my head down and buried my face in a large wad of Kleenex. I couldn't stop. The reason I felt so sad was because these people who had come to the funeral didn't understand that the time for praying for this man's soul was over. He had already gone to his eternal home. Heaven or Hell. The time for praying was BEFORE he died. His time was gone. There were no "second chances" or prayers that would change the outcome of his decisions. I was only 19 years old, but I understood this. Today, I attended the funeral of my 18 year old niece, Jessica, who was killed last weekend in a car wreck. Some woman stood up front and prayed to "the spirit of life" and spoke of seeing Jess in the sunrise and sunset. Not once was God's TRUE name ever spoken. My niece, who was raised by her mother after her mother divorced my brother, never learned about Christ. Oh, I'm sure she'd heard of Him. It's hard to live in America and not hear about Jesus Christ, but she was never taught about Him. She never accepted Christ as her Savior. My brother is saved, but never shared God's plan of salvation with his daughter. The rest of us were not allowed much contact with her. Today he grieves....not only because his daughter is dead, but because he never took advantage of the opportunities laid out before him to possibly lead her to the Lord. So there we sat. One family who knows Christ as Savior in the midst of lost souls. As the woman then prayed to "Parent God" to bless Jess' spirit in the "morning dew" or some such silliness, we prayed to God Almighty through Jesus Christ our Lord for the salvation of everyone in the room. Jessica has gone to her eternal home. Heaven or Hell. The time I had spent praying for her was now over. As we all know, this week has been full of tragedy for our country. In absolute horror and disbelief, we watched crazy terrorists fly our own commercial jets through the twin towers in New York City. We watched people jump to their deaths....one couple holding hands as they jumped to avoid the horrific blazing fire. We watched as both towers crumbled to the ground killing thousands. We watched another jet hit the Pentagon killing more souls. And will we ever forget the unbelievably courageous efforts of those passengers on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania? The day this happened, I thought, "Lord, how many went to Heaven today...and how many went to Hell"? I watched as people prayed for the souls of all who had died to find peace. The time for praying for souls is while people are STILL ALIVE! The time to share God's plan of salvation is when people are STILL ALIVE! Prayers for the dead are wasted, but prayers for the living are powerful! The time for people to accept Christ as their Savior is while they are ALIVE! When they die, their chance is over and the time for praying over them is done. If you're anything like me, you're proud and thankful to be an American! You're flying your flags and weeping when you see the tired, dust-laden firemen planting "Old Glory" at the disaster sites. I'm praying God will reveal the identities of the terrorists and those Godless people behind this attack. We're Americans! We are CHRISTIAN Americans. Even as much as we love this country of ours, we must also, as Christians, rise above that fact and remember....we are also only passing through. This world is not our home. Our eternal home is Heaven where Christ is the Light. While we are here, we are commanded by Christ to go out into the world and tell people about Him. Matthew 28: 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."--KJV. We are to pray for each other, for the sick, the lost....and even our enemies. We are to pray while today is still today, while this moment is still this moment. Let us continue to pray for this great country of ours, while it is still here, that she may remain strong. Let us pray that God's mercy would continue to be upon His children who thankfully and gratefully call America "home". Let us pray and reach out to the lost while they are still here....before the time of prayer is over. Let us pray for the living. Let us be about the Father's business every day while WE are still here. Hebrews 3: 6. "But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. 7. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 15. While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation."--KJV Ezekiel 3:17. "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 18. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul."--KJV We are but a few in this world of the lost, but we are the messengers. We cannot force anyone to listen. We cannot be saved for someone else, though there have been times when I wished I could! We can only go and tell. The Holy Spirit does the rest. Let us pray for each other that God would make us bold and keep us from clothing ourselves with the sins of this world. Let us pray for the lost that they would hear the message of salvation and believe. Let us pray for our country that she would turn away from her sin and turn towards God that He may continue to allow her to stand strong. Let us also pray for the salvation of our enemies before they die. Let us pray for the living while today is still today In Christ's Love, Debbie Reed-Parman  
 
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