The "Move them or Change them" prayer

[Cow Poke]

Please forgive me while I ramble -- it's therapeutic. And, this actually pertains to a recent discussion I was having with a couple of fellow Twebbers.

YEARS ago, I was the new Pastor in an old established country church. It didn't take long to realize that the Church was run by a "Church Momma", and a small band of people who controlled everything. I knew ahead of time that it was a "problem Church" -- I seem to be drawn to Churches in crisis or turmoil.

I did NOT realize, however, what a tight hold this little group of people had over the Church, and over the first two years there, I began to realize that every time it seemed God was moving in our congregation, one of them would do something to destroy the mood, and turmoil would break out all over again.

I had just started meeting with a group of six men in our Church - relative newcomers - who really wanted to see God work, and we met every Saturday morning at 6 AM for prayer. We had some wonderful prayer times, and often the "control problem" would come up in prayer.

One Saturday morning, while we were praying, I really felt like God put a "prayer" on my heart. I'm not one for "written" or "formatted" prayers -- I usually just "pray from the heart". But I felt impressed to share this prayer with the group, and encourage the seven of us to pray....

"God, please move them or change them, or move ME or change ME". And we began to pray exactly that, in addition to other prayer concerns.

Shortly after that, the husband of the Church Momma - the deacon chairman - stopped by my office, and he looked a bit sober. I asked if he was OK, and he said, "well, you're not going to be seeing much of me in the future - I've decided to spend some time seeing the Country, so I'll be traveling a lot, and you can do whatever you want with the Church".

I was really surprised, and I knew there was more - so I asked -- "Are you alright?" He looked at the floor and said, "I just got back from the doctor, and found I have cancer, and only have about six months to live". I was stunned. I prayed for him, and he left, and I just sat there thinking. And I thought - it's the prayer! "God, please move them or change them, or move ME or change ME".

About 4 months later, I was at home, and I got a call from the Sheriff's Department. The Deputy on the phone suggested that I get to the hospital right away, as one of the (I'll call them Smith) family was asking for me. They've had a death. Wow. I headed to the hospital, and saw the family in the parking lot. They were weeping. Then the oldest son told me, "Momma is in there, and Poppa is on the way". I was confused. "Poppa is on the way?" As it turned out, the Church Momma had a heart attack and died, no warning -- just a sudden death.

The family asked me to preach her funeral, which I did, and it went well, because even though we bumped heads, we generally liked each other a lot, and I knew she MEANT well.

About 2 months later, the eldest daughter called me and asked, "when you get some time, do you think you might stop by and visit Daddy?" I told her "sure, I'd be glad to", and I went back to what I was doing. Then something in my spirit said "RIGHT NOW". So I excused myself from the people I was with, and headed to his house. Another daughter met me at the door, and pointed to the bedroom. I walked in, and he was in bed, not looking so good.

I sat on the bed, and said "you look like 7 miles of bad road". (we had become good friends, and he was a tough old bird, and we always kidded like that) He smiled, and said, "yeah, I'm not doing so good". We talked a few minutes, and then it got quiet. I didn't know what else to say. Then he looked at me and said... "I just want you to know, I think you're a fine fella".

Then he closed his eyes, gasped one time, and passed into eternity.

I thought again about the prayer -- "God, please move them or change them, or move ME or change ME".

And I realized... God moved THEM, and he changed ME.

[princesa]

Wow. That is something. Thank you for sharing this with us and for personally helping me earlier today. I feel that now I have Godly 'ammo' to apply to the anger if it arises again, but even now, I feel much lighter. Your words made a difference to me today. Thank you.

[Cow Poke]

There were two other remarkable deaths --- and I don't glory in them, I promise ---- but seemed related to the "house cleaning" that the Lord seemed to be doing. After these deaths, there as a very obvious "different spirit" in the Church, setting the stage for other things like "the Biker Dude" episode.

But on a LIGHTER note --- I never knew how much this impacted my youngest daughter (then about 18 years old) who had been paying more attention than I would have guessed.

One Sunday after Morning Service, she and I were going to the shooting range to "pop some caps". On the way there, she said, "Dad, what's wrong?" I was a bit surprised, and said "nothing's wrong, why?" She said, "no, I can tell -something is bothering you".

I thought about it a minute, and finally admitted, "OK, there's ONE guy at Church who's kinda being a blockhead, and I can't figure out why".

Immediately, she said, "Well, let's just pray that 'move 'em or kill 'em' prayer". I started laughing, TRYING to be serious, and said, "Move them or CHANGE them".... to which she replied, "yeah, whatever".

[Sparko]

When my Dad was an alcoholic and she couldn't get him to go to church, my mom used to pray for him all the time. She told me she prayed "God, knock some sense into him"

My dad had a stroke and after that he became a Christian.

Kinda scary, huh?

[Cow Poke]

When my Dad was an alcoholic and she couldn't get him to go to church, my mom used to pray for him all the time. She told me she prayed "God, knock some sense into him"

My dad had a stroke and after that he became a Christian.

Kinda scary, huh?

Yeah, I use that in a sermon I preach called "you may get what you want, but you may not want what you get".

Long title, but I usually just use the first half in the title

[Sparko]

Yeah, I use that in a sermon I preach called "you may get what you want, but you may not want what you get".

Long title, but I usually just use the first half in the title

In the end, I don't think God causes tragedy like that, but he sure can use it.

[Cow Poke]

In the end, I don't think God causes tragedy like that, but he sure can use it.

Exactly --- which is why I don't glory in the deaths, wish anything like that on anybody.