Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Praying for Bryan




What a moving night of prayer last evening in the home of Bryan and Debby Shelley. An army of Prayer Warriors from Madera and Fresno counties descended on the Shelley's home for a time of diligent agreement together through Jesus.

Last fall, Bryan (the Preaching Minister for the Sunset Avenue church in Madera) was diagnosed with Stage-4 Colon Cancer. The cancer had already invaded his liver and the prognosis was grim. Since the diagnosis, Bryan has been on a very aggressive regimen of chemotherapy treatments. Amazingly, he doesn't seem to have lost a thread of hair throughout the treatments.

As Bryan's treatments near their conclusion, his wonderful wife Debby invited a host of Christian friends to come and pray. About 12 guys (including 6 of our 8 elders) from Woodward Park joined me on this journey.

There were tears. There were hugs. There were audible "Amens" expressing agreement. There were readings from God's Word. There were reminders that the stories of the Bible aren't there to tell us what God did, but to infuse our faith in what God can do. There were affirmations that the One living within us is greater than any disease that might afflict us.

Last night, I was blessed to be a part of an army of prayer.

Today, I'll continue praying for my friend and my brother, Bryan Shelley.

I hope you'll join me in that prayer.

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"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him...And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5.13-16).