The “Right Now” Prayer

Deep in the heart of China, a small bent-shouldered elderly man slowly walked between ribbons of train tracks. As I watched from a distance, a train approached at great speed behind him. It drew ever closer to the lone traveler, and its piercing whistle began to sound a warning. Yet the elderly gentleman continued walking between the set of tracks, seemingly unaware of the terrible danger he was in and the death that would befall him if he didn’t move away from the tracks. I looked on in consternation and bewilderment, thinking, Why doesn’t he move off the tracks? Doesn’t he hear the whistle?

Then I knew. An urgent voice spoke to me, “He can’t hear it! Pray! Right Now!”

Without hesitation, I cried out, “Jesus, help him!”

I watched as he turned his head around as if in response to someone touching his shoulder. With a quickness that belied his advanced years, he stepped over the tracks and out of harm’s way.

Growing up, when mom asked me to do a household task, I took my time responding to her request and sometimes ignored it altogether. What I was doing at the moment was more important than listening and responding to what she asked of me. After a while, when she saw I hadn’t done what she asked, she would repeat her earlier request by adding two words—right now! I can assure you that suddenly what I was doing at that moment didn’t seem nearly as important as it had earlier. I put myself in high gear and obeyed. I did not want to risk standing being preferable to sitting for the rest of the day if you know what I mean.

I Thessalonians 5:7 instructs, “Pray without ceasing,” and Luke 18:1 states, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” So, we know we are to pray always. But if we are sensitive and yielded to His Spirit, we will receive a “pray right now” call; it can’t be delayed until a scheduled prayer hour or church prayer meeting. These calls cross all time zones and are not necessarily between the business hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. They’re not only Monday through Friday and don’t follow a “no calls after 10 pm” rule.

The story I shared in the opening paragraph happened in the middle of the night when my mother was in a deep sleep. The Lord showed her the vision of the elderly gentleman on the train tracks, and He woke her up with a “right now” call to prayer.

Whenever the call comes, we must quickly respond.

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16

We live in the last days before the coming of the Lord. All around us are hurting, sick, broken, desperate people in desperate situations. People are walking along train tracks, not hearing the oncoming train of final destruction speeding toward them.

Will we hear and obey the Savior’s call to pray? He is saying, “Pray. Right now!”

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, we know many desperate souls in our world do not realize they are on a path of death and destruction. Help us to be sensitive to your voice, asking us to pray and intercede for these lost and dying souls. Jesus, we will listen and obey right now!