"A Prayer for Megan"

  • Derek Staples
  • | Nov 3, 2008
  • | Series: Monday Morning Manna

"A PRAYER FOR MEGAN"

"And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." (I John 5:14-15)

Today is a day we have set aside for fasting and prayer in honor of Megan Brittain, a beautiful12 year-old girl in our First Baptist family that has been battling cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma) since July of last year. After undergoing over a year of chemotherapy and so many trips to the Children's Hospital in Birmingham that Gary (Megan's dad and campus minister at Jacksonville State University) has lost count, we all hoped her latest PET scan would bring with it the joyous news that all cancer patients would love to hear: It's Gone!

On Wednesday (October 29) that news was not heard. Instead, the news came: another tumor on her spine. A marble-sized tumor was discovered near the spot where the doctor's removed a portion of a tumor last summer. That was not the news I had hoped to share with our church last Wednesday night. As we huddled into prayer groups all over our auditorium praying for Gary and Megan, I was reminded of the simple fact that our Heavenly Father hears us when we earnestly pray.

John says God loves to give us what we pray for. God loves to answer our prayers. Pastor/teacher John Piper says, "God is a cheerful giver when it comes to answering prayer. God is like Eric Liddell, the great Olympic runner of Chariots of Fire, with his feet planted waiting the gun. Our prayers are the gun. When the gun goes off, Eric Liddell explodes from the starting line. When God hears our prayers, he explodes into action. And our happiness in him is his prize at the end of the race."

I like the illustration of the little girl who comes up to her grandfather who is sitting in his chair looking at the birds through the picture window. The little girl is carrying a box of band-aids and her knee is scratched. She says to her grandfather, "Gramps, will you put a band-aid on my knee?" Grandpa keeps watching the birds eating at the birdfeeder and after no response the little girl runs to Grandma in the next room brokenhearted because Grandpa wouldn't help her.
Grandma kind of smiled because she knew Gramps had a heart of gold, and loved his little granddaughter, and would even die for her. Grandma knew that the problem was that Gramps has wax in his ears. She knew that all Gramps had to do was hear his little granddaughter's voice and his eyes would twinkle and he would do whatever the little girl asked-provided he was convinced that it was best for her.

So she sends the granddaughter back to him, saying, "Make sure he hears you. If he hears you, I know he will fix your knee." So the granddaughter goes back. She makes her request directly into his ear. Grandpa's eyes twinkle, the corners of his mouth turn into a beautiful smile, and he takes his little granddaughter into his lap and tenderly bandages her knee.

Well, God is not hard of hearing. He has no wax in his ears. He has a benevolent heart. And He calls us to ask according to His will. In other words, we humble ourselves before God. We align ourselves with His perfect will, and we ask that His will be done for Megan, for Gary, for Ian and Bradley, for ourselves.

And we remember in the days of uncertainty the comforting words of Jesus, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:25-33)

I have heard it said that our heavenly Father is sitting on the edge of his throne eager to hear our prayers. 2 Chronicles 16:9 shows this same anticipation on God's part: "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him." Our prayers are like smoke signals spelling out, "SOS." God loves to answer the cry for help. So pray with confidence. Deny you physical body for a meal or two so that you can devote your mind and heart to prayer for Megan. Don't pray with an anxious heart because Megan is worth more than many sparrows. And so are you!


Until Next Week,


Dr. Derek