Prayers
Healing Prayer
Several years ago, God called Pastor Chris to a deeper understanding of prayer and healing. It’s a long story; perhaps she’ll share it with you one day. But the gist is this: too many people suffer needlessly. Jesus tells us we should come to Him, and He’ll take away our hurt, take our burdens upon Himself, and in return, give us peace and joy. These two things do not come naturally to Pastor Chris, and she has struggled with believing what the Good Lord says. But true to His Word, Jesus comes through every time. Her eyes, heart, and mind have become convinced that God can do everything, every single thing, that He says He can do.
And so, in her quest to better understand and believe the Lord, she stumbled upon Healing Prayer. It sounds scary, and sometimes it is…for it is often easier to keep on the same road, even if it’s a bumpy one, than be courageous enough to try a new one–even if we know it’ll be smoother. Healing prayer is simply this: inviting Jesus to come into our pain, take it, heal it, and restore our peace. Jesus can heal any hurt and every hurt. She’s seen it personally. The Holy Spirit does indeed work miracles. Don’t think this happens because Pastor Chris is something special; that’s not it at all. It’s all God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who does the work, to the glory of His Holy Name.
In 2008, God put together the St. Paul’s Healing Prayer team. Three other folks who have been extensively trained in prayer and counseling join her the third Monday of every month at 10:30 for prayer. For privacy and convenience, it is best if you would make an appointment by calling 838-2636 or email her at stpauls_pastor@verizon.net. God knows you intimately; there are no surprises to Him. He wants you to be free from everything that hurts or hinders you–come and taste the Living Water. You’ll soon want nothing else!
Prayer Requests
Prayer requests take many forms at St. Paul’s. They include: for Pastor Chris’ eyes only, Wednesday night prayer group (confidential requests), telephone prayer chain, and congregational prayer. Click on a link to make your request known.
Please include in your prayers ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson and his staff, VA Synod Bishop James Mauney and his staff, as well as our own Pastor Christine Farrow and her staff.
St. Paul’s parishioners actively pray for the various ministries they carry out. Some of these ministries include: the homeless (Night’s Welcome), the hungry (H.E.L.P. & Meals on Wheels), the military, the veterans hospital, vacation bible school, daily congregational prayer, Wednesday night prayer ministry, telephone prayer chain, donating school supplies and Christmas presents, our mission partner in Wise, VA, and our missionaries in Madagascar. Please join us in praying for these various ministries.
One of our best characteristics is our prayer life/spirituality. Three foundational characteristics of spirituality are faith, hope, and love. Faith is the belief that God will never abandon or forget us during our time of need. Hope enables us to let go and let God. Hope enables us to hand over our sense of over responsibility, guilt, rescuing, and enabling to God’s hands. Love enables us to show concern, and generosity to others.
The ELCA hosts a prayer network of congregations and prayer groups across the United States and the world. Prayer requests are collected on the ELCA prayer website www.elca.org/prayer and forwarded to participants of the network who offer prayer.
The prayer network is two fold: people who desire prayer go on-line and submit their prayer requests; prayer groups commit to pray for the submitted prayer requests for 30 days.
Once a prayer request is made, the online manager responds directly and/or e-mails the prayer requests to Prayer Network congregations and prayer groups. Due to the large volume of prayer requests, not all congregations are contacted with every request, but every prayer request receives prayer. A prayer group from St. Paul’s has been registered. If you would like to a part of this e-mail prayer group, please contact Pastor Chris at stpauls_pastor@verizon.net. Please give your name and e-mail address at which you would like to receive the prayers. Once on the list, you will be forwarded prayers requests via e-mail as they come.
More information about the Prayer Network can be found online at www.prayingchurch.org.