The Prayer Of A Broken Saint
June 19, 2022 5:16 PM
Bro. John in Mo.
6/19/22
We are all familiar with Hebrews Chapter11, which has been known as the “Faith Hall Of Fame.” In Hebrews 11, we hear of the exploits of Moses, Abraham, Noah, etc., and the great faith that these mighty men of God had. But I believe that God is writing another New Testament “Faith Hall Of Fame,” made up of “Unknown Hero’s Of Faith”, whose stories have never been told, and their names have never been seen in print. I believe the Lord will be introducing us to these saints in the future, and throughout eternity. I was blessed to meet one of these unknown hero’s several years ago…her name was Helen.
Back in 2012, I had to put my Mother into a nursing home because of health problems, specifically Dementia. I would usually go down to see her every week or so, normally arriving about breakfast time. I would always pull up a chair, and sit down next to mom while she was eating her breakfast. Helen was a also was a resident at the nursing home, and assigned to the same table where my mother ate her meals, so she was usually there too, seated near my mom, and she was always trying to get my attention! Helen was a dear sweet old woman, nearly ninety years old, with no teeth, and very soft spoken. I have to admit at first, Helen kinda irritated me, because she would always start talking, ( I could hardly understand her, because her voice was so weak, and her having no teeth didn’t help either!) and I just wanted some privacy, to visit with my mom.
But I quickly came to realize that Helen was just being human….she just wanted some attention, and someone that she could talk to. Nursing homes are bad about that sort of thing…they may give them the health care that they need, but not so much on the support emotionally that they need, because most nursing homes are just too understaffed. At some point, while Helen was a resident at the nursing home, she fell and broke her leg. I remember one night I was down there visiting, and I pushed mom in her wheelchair throughout all the hallways in the facility….just for something to do. As we would go up and down the various hallways, you could look ahead and see some of the residents sitting out in the hallway in their wheelchairs.
As I was pushing mom along, I noticed Helen right up ahead of us sitting out in the hall, her leg in a cast, her eyes shut, and her mouth moving as if she was talking to someone. I’m sure some of the nurses, and attendants, are probably desensitized to seeing residents like this, maybe some are thinking, “Yep, just another crazy lady, sitting there talking to herself in the hallway.” I stopped right next to Helen, and just by looking at her, it was obvious to see that she was in pain. Then I heard her frail, faint voice say: “Heavenly Father…I…..I just put my trust in you.” I was just completely shattered, and heartbroken when I heard her say that.
My mom didn’t hear what Helen said, (my mother was nearly deaf) but she reached over and patted Helen affectionately on the forehead. I think that kinda startled her, when my mom touched her… and Helen quickly opened her eyes. I said “Helen were you praying?” She seemed a little embarrassed, but then softly said “Well…um…yes, I was.” I said “Would you like for me to pray for you right now?” She said, “Oh yes, please!” So I laid hands on her in the name of Jesus, and ask the Lord to comfort her, and to send healing into her body. Helen was just smiling ear to ear after I prayed for her! You could tell she was so happy that I even spent one minute of my time on her. And I was deeply touched by the simplicity, and brokenness of her prayer. (I wish that I could have heard what Helen was praying right before I got close to her.)
In this day and age of T.V. evangelists, youtube preachers, Christian websites, mega-churches, etc., there are many preachers who are great orators, and can pray great prayers. But with most of them, I question the motive behind their public prayers….are they really out to touch God’s heart, or is their true motive to try and impress their audience with their great oratorical abilities? In my opinion, it is the latter of the two. To be honest, I don’t think that most of these preacher’s long-winded prayers amount to a hill of beans with God.
But Helen’s prayer,…she nailed it! Think about it….here’s a poor elderly saint of God, lonely, broken in mind, body, and spirit, pushed out into the hallway of a nursing home, in severe pain, with no one but God to turn to. Satan may have been attacking and tormenting her mind with thoughts such as: “Old woman, you don’t have long to live…and before I take you out, I’m gonna put you through such pain…such a miserable hell on earth… that you are going to wish that you had never been born! Where’s you’re God at now, that you pray to constantly? He has left you!…He has turned you over to me!”
The thing that greatly impressed me with this dear saint, is that she had settled…she had completely resigned her present situation into the hands of Almighty God. (Have you resigned that problem that is worrying you into the hands of God? Is your faith on the level with this woman. I know that I have certainly not arrived there yet.) When one goes to God in prayer with brokenness and humility, like this saint did, this is the kind of prayer that gets the attention of God. Psalm 34:18 says: “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
Someone might be thinking, “So whats the big deal…I don’t understand, this was no great prayer that Helen prayed, it was so short.” I would have to totally disagree with a statement such as that. Have you ever noticed that it is the little things that we do, with humility, that truly blesses the heart of God? Even if we do great things for God, it’s not US that is doing it anyway, it is THE ANOINTING of the Holy Spirit, that does the work. In Mark 12:42-44, Jesus spoke about the widow who cast in only two mites, but in reality, she had cast in more than all the rich people, because it was all that she had. So in this case, a little was a lot, in the eyes of the Lord. In Mat. 9:20-22 the woman with an issue of blood said within herself, “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.” Just eleven little words she spoke within herself, with faith, and she achieved astounding results!
When I heard Helen pray, “Heavenly Father,….I…I just put my trust in you.” I could sense a woman of power, and faith in my presence, even though her voice was weak and frail, and her body was bent, bruised, and broken. I tell you, that this was one of the greatest prayers of faith that has ever been prayed! God always looks at the heart of the matter. 1Sam 16:7 says: “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the lord looketh on the heart.” This was a prayer that I know moved God’s heart with compassion, and it’s the kind of prayer that terrorizes hell. Satan and his minions know that when we are broken, and humbled, and we enter into prayer with great humility, that God will respond to this kind of prayer.
Please hear me saints…a broken man or woman of God, on their knees in prayer, (or even in a wheelchair) sends a cold chill of panic down Satan’s back. Why? Because these kind of prayers get results, that’s why! The Apostle Paul said in 2 Cor 12:10 “For when I am weak, then am I strong.” When Helen started praying this simple, heartfelt prayer, Moses may have been talking to Elijah in heaven, and stopped in mid sentence and said: “Wait! Stop! Did you hear that prayer that just came in over the loudspeaker, into the throne room?” Elijah may have replied, as he lowered his head in humility, “Yes… I heard it…..and just think, we actually thought that WE knew how to pray!”
Friends, when the chips are down, and I really need someone to pray for me, I would much rather have someone like Helen touching God for me, than all of the pompous, millionaire,”purpose driven” preachers in the modern church, and I am dead serious when I say that. Why? Because most of them are not truly called by God in the first place, they do not preach the cross, the blood of Jesus, and most have never been broken by God. You must be broken, in order to truly move God’s heart in prayer, and effectually minister to someone. (This could well be the reason many of us are going through tough things now, it will give us a testimony to help encourage others in the future.) You can’t feel someone else’s pain, until you have FIRST felt pain yourself. Amen?
After hearing Helen pray that humble prayer, from a broken heart, I kinda “adopted” her! Even after my mother died in 2014, I still went down there several more times to see her. The last time that I saw Helen, she was sitting in her wheel chair, watching T.V. I told her who I was, but I don’t think she really remembered me. I told her that I was there to visit with her for awhile, and her face just lit up, she was so happy. And she started talking, and talking, and several times she would abruptly stop and say, “Oh….I’m just so glad to have someone to talk to!” I just let her talk away! That’s what I was there for, and it was a blessing to me to see what a big difference it made in her life, for her just to have a visitor.
Several months later, I went down there to visit her, but she had been discharged from the nursing home. Some distant relatives of hers had made room for her in their house, and took her in, and cared for her. I think it was about six months later, I heard that she had passed away, at her relatives home. We will be seeing, and meeting many people like Helen in heaven….one of the great “Unknown Hero’s Of Faith”. I am just so thankful that I happened to be in the right place, at the right time, to hear one of the greatest prayers of faith that has ever been prayed, from a broken, and humbled saint of God: “Heavenly Father…..I….I just put my trust in you.” I mean think about it, how can you beat a prayer like that?
Someone reading this right now may be crushed… completely broken in grief over some form of calamity that has recently hit your life. Perhaps you are all alone, and you have no one you can trust, or confide in. If this is the case, and you truly belong to the Lord….friend, you are actually in a much better situation than you may realize. You see, when we are completely at the end of our rope, there is really not much that mere mortal man can do for us. Psalm 60:11: “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.” Psalm 118:8 “It is better to trust in the Lord that to put confidence in man.” But when we go tearfully, broken, and humbled to the the throne of Almighty God in prayer, (to the one in whom all things are possible) I can assure you, these kind of prayers move the heart of God. Hell goes into a panic, when the weakest, broken saint tearfully hits their knees. Why? Read Psalm 102:17 ” He will regard the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.”
Psalm 102:17 is why every demon trembles when a sifted saint bends their knee in broken humility. It’s because God does not despise these kind of tearful prayers, He regards them! (and all of hell hates the fact that he does!) What ever trouble you are going through, let me just say this: God knows. (wow! just as I was typing “God knows” I powerfully felt the presence of God come upon me, and I remembered a sermon by David Wilkerson. God does not move upon me without a reason, so I know this is for someone reading this message. You need to go to youtube and type in: “God Knows by David Wilkerson” Someone will be greatly blessed by doing so. Bro.Wilkerson himself was broken when he gave this message about year before he died. You can sense the powerful anointing this man of God still had. When he simply announced the title of his sermon that he was to preach was “God Knows” the crowd could sense the mighty presence of God, and they responded accordingly.
As I close, the actual message of this article boils down to this: The faint whispered prayer of a broken elderly saint in a nursing home, moved a mountain. Helen’s feeble prayer healed her broken leg, and touched the heart of her relatives, to move her out of a dull, lifeless nursing home, into their own home, where she could spend her final days with those that loved her. God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34) What He did for her, He will also do for you, whatever your particular situation may be. Don’t ever think that God doesn’t hear your prayer, no matter how weak it may be. I firmly believe that God, in his tender mercy, is going to perfect that thing that is concerning you. (Read Psalm 138:8) May we all do as dear sweet Helen, and simply lay that problem down that is worrying us, at the feet of Jesus, and say: “Heavenly Father….I…I just put my trust in you.” Just one more thing: God Knows.
Bro. John in Mo.
6-19-22
