string of pearls

i was talking to my friend who recently returned from a mission trip. we were discussing how you ‘pray up’ for events like that – prepare with prayer. it’s like, you know you can’t get through things like that without having your heart in the right place and things dealt with in your life and protection from the enemy. and so you pray.

as we were talking about it, i thought of those events as pearls. moments in your life where you feel like you’re under incredible pressure and do everything you can to be prayed up. and when you look back afterward you realize how precious a time that had been in your life and will most likely be an event you will treasure forever.

pearls.

we pray them up, knowing the consequences for not doing so.

but what about the times in between? on a pearl necklace we’d call it the string. here, we call it life.

and it dawned on me. why do we pray up the pearls but relax on all that stuff when it comes to our regular ole life? what about ‘just life’ makes prayer less important?

why do the pearls get all the prayers?

i know we experience a lot of spiritual warfare when we are on a mission trip – because we are doing the Work Of God, so of course - of course! we pray. but.. and i feel a little silly asking this.. shouldn’t our lives be about the work of God? and if so,.. why aren’t we praying up our lives?

i mean, afterall, if the string holds the pearls together, shouldn’t it be strong enough to do so? our lives need to be so prayed up that it can withstand an attack. our enemy knows where we are weakest and he’s gonna strike full force at those points.

when i was a kid, i was pretty tiny. i’m sure that surprises you. and back then participation in p.e. wasn’t a choice. so when the teacher had us play red rover i would tremble knowing i was obligated to play and that i was the weak link on whatever team was punished to have me. inevitably, the person called over would run full bore at me and whomever was grasping my arm so tightly they were giving me indian burns. even my teammates’ strength was no match for my small stature and our link would burst wide open from the crashing blow of our opposition. and i’d have to go back with them to the other side as their winnings. their kill.

satan does that. he finds the parts that aren’t prayed up and heads straight for them. and just because they’re being held by strong, solid pearls on each side, they still may be no match for the lack of prayer at the point that’s been targeted. strings are already thin. why weaken them with neglect?

it absolutely makes sense to pray up those times when we are taking a huge step of faith or on mission for God or ‘making ministry’. of course we need to do that! what i propose is that we recognize that is our life. that is the string. the pearls are the beautiful moments we can look back on and see God’s handiwork, the huge growth, the momentous occasions, but the string.. that’s the lifeline. the thing that holds it all together. and if it isn’t prayed up, those pearls are going to split apart, spill, scatter and get crushed under someone’s heel.

keep those pearls in tact and pray up your life! it’s all worth it. every last strand of it.

pray up and walk on.