Praying For Joey

I suspect that most who will read this entry will have no use for it as they are much more accomplished pray-ers than I am.  Yet over the past few days, I found myself enormously burdened regarding prayer for Joey Keller.   My times of lifting him up along with Nick and Elizabeth have been extraordinarily powerful, emotional, raw sometimes ... often very specifically pointed at some aspect or other of what's going on or even something completely unrelated.  But what hit most recently was the desire to know that there was continuous coverage for all that has been going on with the Kellers this past week.

(For those not familiar with Joey or his story, please click here for a summary and all the updates: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller.  In short, Joey is a friend of Daniel's from his homeschool co-op and has an aggressive form of brain cancer.  In the past week, things have taken a turn for the worse and frankly, the medical team hasn't a clue why. He is in desperate need of a miracle and there are literally THOUSANDS of people all over the world praying for him - including all us Millers!)

I tried briefly to find some "coordinator" for Team Joey maybe already had something like this, or knew how to put it together, but it quickly became apparent that God was giving ME this task!  I put it off for a day longer than I should have (there's that discipline thing again) until I couldn't stand it any more and came up with a really clunky way of trying to organize it using "events" in Facebook.  Well, to make a long story not quite as long, I created 1/2hr time slots stretching from this past Saturday night through this coming Friday at midnight for which people could sign-up and pray.  I figured we'd be scrounging for volunteers most of the week - especially for the early morning hours - but in a spectacular show of what "TEAM JOEY" is all about (and what God apparently had in mind all along!) Andrea and I were absolutely deluged with people wanting time slots to pray, and we filled up the entire thing ... all 292 slots in less than 1/2 a day. And many slots - even the early morning ones - have multiple people in them because the requests were coming in faster than Andrea & I could update the events!

I'm blown away at what God did through this.  But the goal was of course NOT just filling up time slots, but in providing powerful, comprehensive, round-the-clock supplication ... beseeching ... BEGGING before the throne of God for Joey's life and health and restoration ... so the REAL work lies with those who are signed up - and all the rest who are still praying even though they don't have their names on a list in Facebook!

It is with that thought in mind ... and thinking that there might be some out there who struggle a bit with prayer ... or might even be intimidated at the thought of filling up an entire 1/2 hour with prayer on the same topic ... that I wanted to offer some ideas / suggestions for how to pray for Joey.

If you are an experienced pray-er, or have no trouble filling up an entire 1/2 hour, then what follows is not for you.  PLEASE continue to pray for Joey as loud, long, and often as you can ... and Thank You!

On the other hand, if you could use a little extra help filling up your time slot, or maybe just some different ideas from how you've been praying, then I offer these for whatever worth you might find in them.  There's nothing special about them or the order or the wording ... in fact ... what matters most is that whatever you pray comes from your heart ... not someone else's words or formulas ... God wants to hear from YOU.  But I do believe I can defend each particular statement and its form Biblically if you have questions about how/why some of these appear the way they do.  Normally, I'd have written this out long-hand, but as you can see, I figured it was long enough even in "bullet" form, so I spared you all the book that would have resulted. :-)

May the Lord pray through you and bless both you and the Kellers through your prayers.  Thank you all!

- Tim -

Praying for Joey 

“Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  (Phil 4:6-7)

General:

• For God’s presence to be powerful, prevalent, and FELT throughout the hospital room and the ward where Joey is
• For God’s peace, power, grace, comfort, hope, and joy to be tangible and “overpowering” in each of the Kellers and to anyone who walks into Joey’s room or deals with him or his parents in any way
• Protection against all enemies – physical, spiritual, emotional, or worldly – that Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth would be firmly surrounded by God’s “hedge”, His own hands, His host, and their own spiritual armor.

Pray AGAINST:

• All forms of cancer, sickness, disease, infirmity, illness, trauma, and stress affecting Joey in any part of his being (body, soul, or spirit)
• Any attack, stronghold, device, or scheme of the enemy affecting Joey, the Kellers, the hospital staff, or any of its equipment or procedures associated with Joey

For Joey:

• That Joey would sense, feel, and experience – in a powerful way – the presence of Jesus with Him and in him at all times comforting, protecting, ministering to, and strengthening him through these trials … to hear His voice, to feel His touch, to see His glory, and to know His peace
• Direct, immediate, complete healing from all cancer, its causes and effects
• Repair or replacement of all damaged tissues, organs, and processes
• Restoration of normal processes & behaviors in every part of his being – body, soul, & spirit
• Destruction of all forms and any sources or causes of cancer or other diseases, infirmities, afflictions, abnormalities, or mutations – physical or otherwise
• Healing from any and all damage caused by recent trauma – physical, emotional, mental, spiritual
• Healing from all the side effects of the medications, procedures, trauma, and stress he’s been subjected to since ALL of this started (years worth)
• For renewed physical strength, health & vigor
• For renewed and increased strength, faith, hope, love, patience, perseverance, joy, and courage
• That he would be a powerful witness in all that he says and does, as well as simply in what God does to him and through him in the presence of the hospital staff and visitors – many of whom are unbelievers
• That all this would bear fruit in a powerful ministry through Joey.  What a testimony he will have!!

For Nick & Elizabeth:

• For renewed and increased strength, faith, hope, love, patience, perseverance, joy, and courage
• For unshakable, child-like, perfect trust in God regardless of what doctors say, test results indicate, or events unfold
• Supernatural wisdom and knowledge to make the right choices; to override doctors when necessary; to know and do what is best for Joey as his God-ordained parents.
• For the discipline and presence of mind to continue to take care of themselves and each other through these ordeals – and to accept or even ask for what they need from other members of the Body of Christ that we may help them bear these burdens

Doctors, Nurses, and other Medical Staff:

• For supernatural , God-given knowledge and wisdom of what to do (and not to do) medically for Joey that is right for him, and in keeping with God’s plan to bring him through this.
• For them to treat Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth with respect, empathy, and sensitivity in how the express thoughts and opinions
• For them to not make errors in diagnosis, treatment plans and execution, following procedures, and protocols
• That they would be open and touched by what God is doing in front of them both to and through the Kellers and the vast “cloud” of believers surrounding and supporting them.
• That they too would feel the power and presence of God in all that is going on in and around Joey and the Kellers … to know and experience the very hand of God upon each of them whenever they enter Joey’s room or the presence of Nick and Elizabeth … that something special is going on here – something vastly bigger than what they’re trying to do with medicine

The Support Team:

• That God would continue to burden the hearts of those who can participate in what He is doing here – through prayer, through visits & encouragement, through providing meals or other services to the Kellers directly, or any other ministry by which we can support, encourage, teach, or help share the burdens they are carrying right now.
• That the Holy Spirit would powerfully pray through those who have committed to specific time slots in the prayer vigil such that the “covering of prayer” would:
• Not be broken
• Would be most effective toward Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth as well as others God intends to touch through these events
• That God would work IN the lives of all those He raises up around the Kellers during this time as well – to bless and encourage them, to draw them closer to Himself and deeper in their relationships with Him, and to more power in their own prayer and service (i.e. deeper into discipleship)
• For God’s blessing and protection upon all those who would give of their time & resources for the Kellers

Over All:

• That God would be glorified in and through these events
• That many would come to know, or know more deeply, His power, love, grace, and holiness
• That the Kingdom would be furthered
• For all those touched by these trials, especially Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth, to receive the maximum benefit from having persevered through the midst of these trials (Rom 8:28) – that God would turn all these horrible things into good in each of their lives, and no lesson would be lost, lest any of this have been in vain.