Prayer Assignments
Vonette Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, spoke frequently encouraging intercessory prayer. I heard her tell of going to one place to speak and meeting a woman who had been praying for Vonette and that particular meeting. At the close of the meeting the woman said to her, "God is not going to let me let you go. He wants me to intercede for you."
After that service, Vonette began getting phone calls from that woman asking about specific needs--often needs that the woman praying had no way of knowing except as God revealed them to her in prayer.
As God's presence accompanied Vonette in her ministry of encouraging others to pray, God was crediting this unknown woman with much of the reward.
One summer a thought came to me to pray daily a specific amount of time for a certain individual. For a day or two I dismissed the idea. Then an incident occurred that showed me that she desperately needed prayer. I accepted the assignment. At some point during my prayer time, I would set the timer for my assigned minutes and intercede for her. Some days I was amazed at the specific ways the Spirit led me to pray. Then one week, I received a remarkable confirmation that my exact prayers were being answered.
A prayer assignment may be for only a brief period. Wesley Duewel wrote in Let God Guide You Daily, "One of my prayer lists names fifty-four persons who are imprisoned for Christ. I try to name each one briefly before the Lord daily. At times as I awakened in the morning, one of those names was instantly on my heart; it was God's special assignment for that day. Sometimes God may bring to your mind someone you have not thought of for months; accept that one as your prayer assignment that day."
When we earnestly bring names to God, it gives Him access to their hearts. Faithfully responding to prayer concerns He gives us will yield eternal rewards.
Thank You, Lord, for the assurance that You do not assign us to pray prayers You will leave unanswered.
"Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you" (Matt. 7:7 Amp.).
