Blessed by blessing others

Tonight I walked through the neighborhood surrounding my church with some dear friends... and prayed. We prayed for the neighborhood, we prayed that God would do a new thing in the neighborhood, and we even got to pray with people. It was an amazing night for it, with a gorgeous breeze and the heat was finally starting to leave the air. People were sitting on their porches and we were ready to reach them with the hope that Jesus offers. I got to pray with this older woman, named Pearl. She has arthritis, and it causes her a lot of pain but her joy just radiated from her. She called all of us "shuga" and gave us all big hugs. And there was another woman named Linda who had lost her husband 3 months ago. She said she had been just spent most of the night in tears, because she just couldn't get over the loss of her husband. She needed deep prayer, so we all laid hands on her and prayed that God would be her love and her joy. It was just such an incredible experience. If I had not been willing to step outside myself and step out of my own little bubble I never would have been able to be so blessed by these people. I don't think I'm the only Christian that gets stuck there. We talk a good game, but when push comes to shove we have "better" things to do on a Friday night then pray for a neighborhood. We are perfectly content with our baby christianity and so we do our thang and we forget those who need Jesus the most. I don't want that to be me. I don't want to be so caught up with myself that I forget others. I want to put others and their needs above my own, and I want God to use me to do big things for His kingdom. I don't want to be so consumed with my own life that I miss the prayer walks and the other doors that God opens. We don't need to go anywhere but our own backyard to reach people for God... so lets do it! Lets change our attitude, and remember that our life is not our own. Go for a walk... build relationships... seek others.... and God WILL work!