“This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life.” – Psalm 119:50

As humans we go through highs and lows. Recently, I met with my Christian counselor and he asked how my last few weeks had been. I responded very honestly and told him there was a period of three to four days where I felt like I was in a funk. Nothing felt good, and I didn’t respond well to adversity. I was quick to anger. I was frustrated. I was lazy. It seemed like I was everything that I shouldn’t have been. Why?

I have no idea why sometimes that happens. I don’t experience super highs and super lows and nothing in between. Most of the time, I’m somewhere right in the middle. That period of several days was brutal for me though. I just felt like I couldn’t get it right.

Then a Christian friend of mine sent me a text. It wasn’t him reaching out to encourage me, wanting to meet up for coffee or to tell me something great that happened for him. Although, I love seeing those texts too!

My friend texted me from a position of need. He was asking for prayer. Even in my state of funk, I quickly responded, prayed for him, and sent some of the prayer back to him in a text. I didn’t see him until the following night at our small group’s Bible study. During some point in the conversation though, I told him the impact that had on me.

I wasn’t in a super dark place, but just a funk where it seemed I couldn’t draw on much positive. When I began to pray though, I felt that funk lifting away from my spirit. I wasn’t praying for myself though. I believe it was an act of obedience to God in response to a friend in need, that enabled my mind and body to be cleared in that moment.

God rewards our faithfulness. He doesn’t forsake us in our lows. He blesses us when we choose to selflessly bless others. In the moment I was praying for my friend, my own emotional and mental state was the furthest thing from my mind. I wanted my friend to be able to be free from what was weighing on him.

“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35

Prayer and entering the spiritual realm armed with the Word of God, a heart for God, and the name of Jesus is unbeatable. It has supernatural, unexplainable and everlasting power. It’s just up to us whether or not we want to wield it!