Silver Hair, Powerful Prayer
By Karen Sue
Hale
Many people are guilty of putting our senior citizens out to pasture and
thinking of them as no longer contributing to the welfare of society. However, many of you reading this are in that
over sixty age group and still lead active lives albeit at a slightly slower
pace these days. If you are like the people in North Pointe Baptist Church’s
Joy or Faith classes or the class taught
by Jerry Hines, you visit shut ins, greet visitors, serve dinner after memorial
services, write encouraging notes to the pastor and staff, and many other deeds
of Christian service in addition to encouraging the other members of your
Sunday school class. You are not ready to sit in the rocker and be taken care
of by someone else. But even if you are getting close to or are already at that
stage of life, you may still make a tremendous difference in the lives of
others.
You are able to pray! You are able to
pray with true understanding for the pains and concerns of many people because
you have already walked where they now trudge, and the Lord brought you through
it all. You can take the time to pray because you are no longer tied to the
hectic schedule of the workday. Many times, you can stop and pray the minute
someone calls with a need. You will spend time in fervent prayer because you
can choose how to devote each hour of the day.
Let me share one example of the power of
praying grandmas and grandpas. My ex-sister-in-law who will always be my
“sister” had to have her entire stomach removed in February of 1996 when she
was thirty-eight years old. A few days before her surgery I asked the senior
adult class at the church I attended at the time to pray for her. She is a
Christian and was ready to be with the Lord, but she felt she was needed here
to finish raising her two sons and see them graduate from high school. Those
people who in many settings would be set aside as having lost their usefulness
(aren’t we younger people foolish) prayed fervently for Debbie. It is now 2018.
Debbie has endured many more surgeries and long hospital stays, but both boys
are now out of high school and in the work force.
The effective prayer of those gray-headed
men and ladies has helped to produce another prayer warrior. Although many
people have told her to go ahead, give up and die, it is Debbie’s testimony
that she chooses to live life as fully as she can until the Lord calls her
home. She shared with me that even when
all she can do is lie in the hospital bed, she still has the ability (and
plenty of time) to pray for her family and friends. Whenever she is
hospitalized, there is a steady stream of hospital staff at her door drawing
encouragement from their patient. God has allowed her to touch many lives in
the years since 1996, and the Lord willing, she’ll touch a few more. She prayed
specifically for God to give me children, and He did so in an unusual way, but
that is a story for another time.
There have been many times that godly
senior citizens have prayed for me or my loved ones, and God has mightily
blessed. Remember that “…the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.” (James 5:16b KJV) Though your bodies may become frail with age
and some may accuse your mind of “slipping,” do not relinquish your call to
intercessory prayer. It is a high calling and allows you to be “more than
conquerors” (Romans 8:37) through the power of His might.
You have the golden opportunity
now that there is silver in your hair
to be God’s conquering warriors
through the power of your prayer.
KEEP ON PRAYING!
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