I prayed over a brick house.
I try to take a daily morning prayer walk along Corsa Avenue. It is about 0.5 miles between Burke and Hicks; three long city blocks, so the prayer walk ends up being around one mile. Back in January or February, every time I would turn around by Hicks Street and head south on Corsa Avenue, I would feel this urge to stop at a brick house on the west sidewalk. I would stop, look at the house, and pray for the people in it. I had never met them, but I would talk to God about this house and its occupants, asking for the Spirit of God to draw them to Himself. About five weeks ago, I was walking towards Hicks Street along Corsa Avenue and saw a well-dressed man standing in front of this brick house. I quickly crossed the street, introduced myself, and said that we moved in last fall and I have been praying along Corsa Avenue most mornings. I explained that there must be a special call that God has upon the people in that house, because for a while I could not pass it without praying specifically for the occupants. The guy, (we’ll call him Sam), told me that he lives there. Sam is about my age. Sam grew up in church. He was baptized as a teenager. He is the son of a pastor. He knows that God wants him to come back, but he has walked away from God, from the faith, and from the church. “My Dad prays for me every day,” Sam said. I asked Sam if I could pray for him, and he readily agreed. Something is happening in Sam’s heart, it seems. Last Monday, my brother Ike and I were walking along Corsa Avenue. We spoke with a few people and had the opportunity to pray for three of them. Divine appointments. As we neared Hicks Street I said, “Hey Ike, let’s ring that bell over there and see if Sam is home.” We rang the bell to this brick house, and the first person to answer the door was… you guessed it, Sam. He said if we had rung the bell five minutes later he would have been on his way to Yonkers. We spoke with Sam for maybe 30 minutes and at the end we prayed for him, and he prayed in Spanish. Sam told us something like this, and I paraphrase…“I know I need to come back to God, but I don’t want to come back and disappoint God by not following him wholeheartedly, so I’m asking him for a sign.” We suggested that, perhaps, if God was prompting me to pray for that brick house multiple days in a row that might be a sign. Just maybe, right? God is using others to answer the prayers of a pastor who is praying for his son. I wonder how many different people are involved in this master plan of God’s to point Sam’s heart back to His Heavenly Father. As I was writing this little update I called Sam, and he invited me to meet up with him this Friday. May the Spirit of God draw Sam to the Father, through Jesus. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
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Rich SchwartzSon of the Father, husband to Sandy, father of six amazing gifts, Bronx brother, active participant in Believers in Jesus Church, insurance adjuster, occasional runner Archives
February 2022
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