You know the saying, "when the student is ready the teacher will appear"? When I first felt impressed to begin praying for celebrities in Hollywood, I really didn't want to nor did I feel qualified. But the Lord let me know He was just looking for someone willing to step out of the ordinary. I didn't know of anyone who might be doing this and I really felt a little silly. We are so used to praying for our friends and families and their needs and sometimes taking prayer request of strangers. But this was more...I felt the weight of making a commitment to do this ...not just a one time prayer, but to take them on like family. Time and again I felt God leading me to just pray for them. I would wake in the middle of the night with certain Hollywood folk on my heart and I would begin to pray. I prayed during the day when they came to mind. I prayed whenever I felt moved to do so, but it was several weeks later and lots of daily devotionals assuring me God certainly was trying to use me in this area. Here is just part of one example from a devotional:
"God purposely chooses those who are the most unlikely candidates for the job. By doing so, He has a wide open door to show His grace, mercy, and power to change human lives. When God uses someone like me or many others He is using, we realize that our source is not in ourselves but in Him alone".
Then comes the teacher...I opened up a devotional one morning to read about a celebrity, I don't remember who it was or the exact contents of the article but it was something on the order of all their latest antics and being in the tabloids and how disgusting it all is and how we just get so tired of the whole thing....etc. Then it ask the question...Do you ever think about praying for them? and included the link for The Hollywood Prayer Network. I checked it out. I couldn't believe there was an organization just to pray for those in the entertainment business. I not only checked it out, but became a member, started a chapter here and have become an intercessor for three people in the business!! When one dear friend was getting married, I was invited to the wedding and went. This trip also became a mission trip to Hollywood. That's a long and wonderful adventure in itself....another blog for another day!
You just never know where God will lead if you let Him and just how rewarding it can be. I have heard so many great testimonies from those living and working in Hollywood and how grateful they are for those that will stand in the gap for them. They live in glass houses. Everything they say and do gets splashed across the tabloids and so many times it's not true. I can't imagine living like that....no matter how glamorous, rich and famous you are. These only compound the problem. They need our prayers. They influence our world whether we like it or not. Just imagine if more of them turned to God because they knew they had someone to turn to. If they understood a merciful God who deeply loves them. If they knew someone is praying for them...what a difference they could make.
"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty
power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more
than we might ask or think."
- Ephesians 3:20
Web: www.hollywoodprayernetwork.org
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