As I walked through the door and got in the long line to place my order, a guy began to speak to me. He told me that his name was Benjamin but that he went by Ben and immediately began to pour out pieces of his life to me as though we had known one another for a lifetime. As Ben spoke to me and shared events that had taken place in his life, something in my spirit told me to pray for Ben. Shortly after my spirit had told me to pray for Ben, Ben asked me if I could pray for him and I immediately answered, “yes, I was just thinking that I wanted to pray for you”. Instead of taking Ben’s hands in that moment and beginning to pray over him right there in the confined space we were in, I let him continue to speak. Once it was Ben’s turn to place his order in line, he placed his order and he immediately left. When I turned around after placing my order I saw that Ben was gone. When I walked back inside to pick up my food about 15 minutes later, I saw Ben standing there and I gently touched his back and said in a playful tone, “hey, why’d you run out so quickly before I had an opportunity to pray for you?” In an unkind tone, Ben expressed to me that he had told me he was going through a lot. I immediately removed my hand from Ben’s back completely intimidated by his mood change and I stood in complete silence as I watched him grab his food and leave.
I prayed about Ben that Saturday night and the next morning when I woke up, for some reason he was still heavy on my mind so I continued to pray. By Monday when Ben was still on my mind, I decided to go look up the meaning of his name and I learned that Benjamin is a name that stems from a Hebrew origin. It means “son of the south” or “son of the right hand” and the right hand is known as God’s special place of honor. Ben had given me his number while we were speaking in the line so I went back through my notes on my phone to find it. That Monday after work I called Ben a few times and even left him a voicemail however, there was never an answer. I thought to myself, “how could I have missed praying for a man whose name itself told me that he was God’s special place of honor?” As I sat down contemplating about the conversation I had with Ben and the moment my spirit told me to pray for him, I realized that I had missed the moment.
As we have officially entered into the last month of the year, I believe that God wants to remind each reader not to miss the moments placed right before them. When I thought about missed moments, the bible story that came to mind was about two sisters named Mary and Martha:
As we have officially entered into the last month of the year, I believe that God wants to remind each reader not to miss the moments placed right before them. When I thought about missed moments, the bible story that came to mind was about two sisters named Mary and Martha:
“38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ 41 ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:38-42 NIV).”
Mary maximized the moment in front of her by taking advantage of the privilege to literally be in the presence of Jesus. Martha on the other hand, missed the moment by placing focus on preparations rather than on Jesus just like I missed the moment to pray for Ben by continuing to listen to him speak rather than praying with him. Don’t be like Martha and I throughout this month, so focused on insignificant details that you miss the main thing that God truly wants you to center your attention on. This month, God wants you to recognize the moments that He will specifically place in front of you so that you will maximize them to the fullest.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for carrying us over into the last month of 2019. Thank you for being a guardian over our lives and for covering us in areas where we didn’t know we needed covering. For every moment that you have blessed us with that we may have taken for granted, Lord we say thank you. Thank you for being patient, loving and kind towards us. Thank you for doing all that you do and for being you. God we pray that we do not miss any moments that you place before us throughout this month. Open our eyes, to be able to recognize the significance of what is in front of us and help us to maximize every moment. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Scriptures to Feed Yourself & Reflect On:
Luke 10:38-42 NIV
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for carrying us over into the last month of 2019. Thank you for being a guardian over our lives and for covering us in areas where we didn’t know we needed covering. For every moment that you have blessed us with that we may have taken for granted, Lord we say thank you. Thank you for being patient, loving and kind towards us. Thank you for doing all that you do and for being you. God we pray that we do not miss any moments that you place before us throughout this month. Open our eyes, to be able to recognize the significance of what is in front of us and help us to maximize every moment. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Scriptures to Feed Yourself & Reflect On:
Luke 10:38-42 NIV