Amen!

For an entire month we’ve been intentionally praying. We’ve prayed for all sorts of things: big things, little things, personal things, global things, and everything in between. We’ve talked about the importance of prayer and how to pray. We’ve done our best to make prayer a part of our daily lives and have made the decision to honor God wherever we are.

How amazing is that?!

I could think of no better way to end our series on prayer than by talking about that little word we add onto the end of our prayers: amen.

I used to think that saying “amen” at the end of a prayer was like the stamp on the letter that got the prayer up to heaven and into God’s mailbox. “Amen” in my mind was like pressing “send” on a text message or an email; if you didn’t say it then God wouldn’t get it and the message would just remain with you. But that’s not at all what it means. When saying “amen” at the end of someone’s prayer, you are stating your agreement with that prayer that was just uttered. Saying “amen” is lending your faith to that prayer.

I want to take a moment and agree with all of the prayers that you’ve prayed over the past month. I say “amen” to your worship and adoration of God and to the times we’ve all separately cried upon his name. I lend my faith to your prayers!

But let’s take this concept just a step further. What if, instead of just lending our faith to someone with our “amen”, we backed it up with our actions?

As I was writing this post I was reminded of the story in Exodus 17 where Joshua and the army of Israel was battling Amalek. Whenever Moses held his hand up, the Israelites would win, but after having them raised for hours he grew tired. So Aaron and Hur came beside him and held up his arms for him.

Praying with others is like what Aaron and Hur did for their friend and leader. Lending your faith to someone who has been battling in prayer for years could be one of the best gifts you could ever give them. But sometimes we have an opportunity to lend more than just our faith to someone.

If, during the course of this series, you’ve had a burden placed on your heart for a person or a group of people, I encourage you to put your faith into action. If you are passionate about the plight of the homeless, go and put your faith to work. If a friend or family member or acquaintance has been placed on your heart, call them on the phone or treat them to a coffee or bring them a home-cooked meal.

Let’s go out into the world, fueled with faith-filled, prayerful actions, sharing the hope and love of God to those who need it!

If you don’t have a prayer journal, you can download one at sarahjcallen.com/prayer