By Rebekah Binkley Montgomery
“… for where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Words of Jesus from Matthew 18:20 NKJV
She was trembling. Her attitude was defiant but her eyes pleaded for help.
She came to my door with a convoluted story. She wanted $20. Please. She’d pay me back as soon as … and blah and blah and blah.
It wasn’t the $20. I could spare it. The Holy Spirit was whispering something else. I just couldn’t hear it.
“Come in,” I said. “Come in and sit down.”
She glanced cautiously down the street before I closed the front door behind her. She perched on my sofa like a bird about to take flight.
“I’ll give you the $20 and you can come back another time and work it off,” I told her. “But let’s pray about your situation first.”
It is my longstanding policy not to insult a person in need by giving money when they can earn it. And if they are not willing to work for it, they won’t ask me for money a second time. (2 Thess. 3:10)
It is also my policy to pray with people for wisdom to resolve their situation. Sometimes that makes them think twice about asking for money, too. More often than not, it is for prayer that they return, rather than money—as was the case with this frightened young woman.
I held out my hand and she took it. “I’ll pray and you can, too, if you want to,” I told her. “Just talk to Him like He’s right here because He is.”
I prayed a simple prayer, following the basic bones of the Lord’s Prayer, by: (1.) thanking God for who He is and for this young girl by name, (2.) acknowledging His love and plan for her, (3.) His complete understanding of her situation, (4.) asking His forgiveness for any sin in both of our lives, (5.) asking His help and wisdom for her, and (6.) His protection over her against the destructive plans of the evil one.
Head bowed, I paused in case she wanted to pray but she was sobbing too hard. “How did you know?” she asked over and over.
“Know what?”
“All those details about my life,” she blubbered.
I still didn’t know and still don’t know what she’s meant. But Jesus knew. And He was in our midst speaking to her just like He promised.
The Mystery of Two or Three Praying
Countless times when two or three pray together, I’ve seen the phenomenon of Jesus’ presence. This has never been demonstrated clearer to me than by my own mother’s prayer life.
All my life, Mom’s prayers have blessed me. But at 91, with dementia, she still has an active prayer ministry because Jesus shows up — as promised — when she prays with someone. And when she prays, her foggy mind becomes crystal clear.
I have seen aides in the nursing home ask Mom to pray with them. She pulls them down into her lap and prays over them with details she cannot possibly know. Two minutes after “amen,” she doesn’t know who they are or even that she prayed for them, but Jesus was there, nevertheless, and they know it.
It never fails to amaze me how often she prays with me over situations she has no knowledge of, yet in prayer, she describes in perfect detail. And as promised, there is no doubt that Jesus comes into our midst.
When You Pray
Prayer is the privilege of the child of God and a real way we can help someone with any kind of need. It’s not hard. Keep your language simple and your prayers honest. As previously mentioned, follow the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer.
But don’t just tell people you will pray for them: pray with them for it is then Jesus promises to show up.
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