“Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ So they called to the blind man, ‘Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.’ Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.” (Mark 10:49-50)
I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of a private person. I’m a guy. I don’t tend to talk about what I hope God is going to do in my life. Even with the really important things, it’s not natural for me to tell other people about my private prayers.
I’ve learned over the years that I need to find a way to open up (with the right people) about the urgent prayers I’m taking to God. Two reasons. One is that when I tell people what I’m asking God for, they can ask Him, too. It multiplies the number of callers.
Here’s the second reason: When you pray in public and God answers, God gets more famous. More people praise Him. More people start bringing their requests to Him instead of handling everything on their own. Bartimaeus made a fearless public prayer request, and everybody saw the answer.
Think: What do we risk when we tell others what we’re asking God for? What can be gained by praying for our needs with a trusted group of people?
Pray: Ask God to give you the courage to let some other people know what you’re urgently praying for, and ask Him to show His power to those people in how He answers your requests (even when the answer is “no”).
Do: Make a quick list of five people you could ask to pray with you about anything. Then make a quick list of five things other people have asked you to pray with them about recently.