^"And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers."
Philemon 1:22

Paul's letter to Philemon was pretty short relative to the rest of his letters.  It was the shortest.  Paul wrote the letter to a friend of his, Philemon, asking him to accept the arrival of one of his former slaves, Onesimus.  I'm not a theologian, but the best I can figure from what I've read is that Onesimus ran away, converted to Christ, and now Paul is trying to make amends between he and his former master.

Other than forgiveness what are we to learn from this one chapter book sandwiched in the middle of the New Testament?  For the first 21 verses Paul expresses his thanks for Philemon, and then pleas with him at length to forgive Onemisus.  Then out of the blue, Paul asks him to prepare the guest room for a future visit.  Where did that come from?  Paul says he's a "prisoner of Christ Jesus" in the second paragraph.  I don't know if he means he's still in chains while writing this or not.  If he's not physically in chains, he's certainly a prisoner in Rome at the time of this writing, somewhere around 61-63 A.D.  Does he really think he's going to get out of the Roman prison?  You know what ... I think he does.

One significant principle stands out to me in this verse.  Philemon prayed for Paul's release from prison ... and prayed in a way that Paul expected it to come to pass.  Do you have friends praying for you?  I do from time to time.  I don't know, maybe I have friends praying for me all the time and I just don't realize it.  There's something powerful about someone you love and trust praying for you.  There's a certain level of power associated with their prayer isn't there?  Maybe it's just me, but there are times in life where my "Belief Meter" registers toward the bottom ... somewhere around one or two.  I can pray and read and meditate and pray some more and I just can't feel power in my words, but when someone else prays for me, it's a whole different story.  For some reason their words are more believable than my own.  Why is that?  Can't I trust what I say?  I wouldn't set out to hurt myself or let myself down, so why can't I believe myself?

My guess is this:  I know me too well.  I know my faults and weaknesses.  I know about my failures.  I know about the mistakes I've made.  I know about the verse that says "the prayers of a righteous man avails much".  Righteous?  Me?  Not hardly, at least not in my opinion.  After all, I swore yesterday.  A righteous man wouldn't do that would he?  Like some of you I fall into the trap of comparing my weaknesses to others' strengths.  That's a dangerous trap.  What can I do to avoid it?  I could start by accepting that my righteousness has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with Christ who lives in me.  If that's true, and I believe it is, then I am righteous.  If I'm righteous then my prayers are powerful, just as powerful as the next guy or gal.  I'm getting off point though ... I'm not writing about this verse to talk about me or my righteousness issues.  I'll save that for a future blog.

Like I said earlier, what stuck out to me was Paul's expectation ... his belief ... that he was going to get out of the prison he was in.  He was going to be free.  That expectation was centered around Jesus, of course, and the prayer of a friend.  What prison are you in and who have you asked to pray for you?  I lead worship for a Celebrate Recovery class at my church.  The purpose of an outreach like that is to help people overcome addictions ... to be freed from their prisons.  In the short time I've been involved with this ministry, the thing that stands out the most is the "coming together" in prayer that these folks partake in.  Some of the people who attend are recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.  Some have anger and codependency issues.  Some are suffering from depression, or trying to win the battle with pornography.  In spite of that, they pray.  Regardless of their varying levels of self esteem and self worth, they pray.  Despite the different labels society has placed upon them, they pray.  And they pray expecting God to move.  The belief meter in that room is "turned up to 11."  I've witnessed it, and it's refreshing.

We live in difficult times.  Some are forecasting even worse times down the road.  There is no lack of prayer needs in our world ... no lack at all.  It's easy to get caught up with our own needs and troubles and issues isn't it?  I know I'm guilty of it.  Do yourself and those around you a favor though:  pray for someone other than yourself, and if you're able to, and if it's appropriate, let them know.  I know there is a certain 'religious honor' in praying for someone anonymously.  At times that may be true, but there also comes a time when people need to know that someone has their back ... that someone is in their corner.  I heard once that sometimes you have to go on the belief of others when you don't believe in yourself.  You just might be the belief that someone needs.

Excuse me now ... I need to go make up the bed in the guest room.  Someone may be expecting it.  God bless.