August 22, 2005 - Do Me a Favor—Tell Jesus That I Love Him

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Do Me a Favor—Tell Jesus That I Love Him

By John Bradley Lambeth
August 22, 2005

It was my mistake. I left the front gate open (a big no-no in Brazil) and he walked in. He wore only a pair of Bermuda shorts. Nothing else. His torso was covered with colorful tattoos. They belied his sad countenance. His eyes were distant and glazed. He was wired high on drugs.

He was trying to sell trinkets (for more drugs?). I offered a quick tip just to get him out of the yard and on his journey. He refused. He insisted on selling his nonsense merchandise.

Then suddenly conversation went into another completely different direction.

“Hey, I know you!” he said. “You’re the pastor of that big green church.”

His eyes misted with tears. With slurred words he told me of the only time he had ever walked into the sanctuary. It was a wedding night, apparently, but he felt God so strongly that he had never forgotten the experience, in spite of the many years that had passed. I asked him his name.

“Fabricio,” he mumbled.

Then Fabricio turned to me and said, “Do me a favor. Tell Jesus that I love Him.”

The words came out quietly, but very clearly. Because of the incredible sincerity of his words, I implored him go to church and tell Jesus himself.

“No,” he responded. “I am not worthy.”

Sadly he turned and walked away without answering my call to return.

With the words “tell Jesus that I love Him” echoing in my ears, I went to church that night and told Jesus what Fabricio had said. He loved Jesus so much that (in his fogged mind) Fabricio felt totally unworthy of entering into His sanctuary.

My mind wandered in the Bible and was drawn to Job. He rose up “…early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually” (Job 1:5).

Surely there is prayer, a different prayer to be prayed for the Fabricios. All of us have loved ones, spouses, precious friends that are unsaved and tremendously bound by the fetters of sin. We need to pray intercessory prayers. The strong kind that crushes Satan’s shackles.

We need to pray the prayers that the sinners would want to pray. But they can’t. They don’t know how! They don’t have the strength. Or, like Fabricio, they feel unworthy to utter the precious name of Jesus. These types of sinners are bound in their sincere ignorance, incredulous of the fact that God loves to hear the cry of a sinner pleading for help. So they die, daily in their silence. Drowning in the shame of their sins.

The true church needs intercessors that are willing to pray the surrogate prayer—to pray in the stead of a sincere, helpless sinner.

We are often so caught up in our own (vain) world that we forget how we, too, were helped by someone’s prayers. While I was praying at an altar of forgiveness (before the Holy Ghost fell into my soul with fire), my precious mother cried the prayer of faith over my life, pushing away the boundaries of sin by her commanding prayer!

A perfect example of this concept is found in the Gospels. First, it is striking to note that the centurion soldier felt the same sense of unworthiness that Fabricio manifested when he says, “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof…”. As a Roman centurion, he felt disqualified to be one of the chosen saved. He was unworthy of Jesus’ attention. Yet, he was willing to intercede in favor of a soul that he felt had a need worse than his! That is what prompted Jesus to declare: “… I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” (Matthew 8:10). And the servant was healed without Jesus’ coming into the house, according to the faith of another man—proxy prayer, proxy faith, positive results.

I am certainly aware that salvation is an individual matter and each man must have a personal experience with Christ and His salvation plan. We cannot be baptized for another person nor can we receive the Holy Ghost as a substitute stand-in. Yet, there is no denying that our prayers have a greater effect than we can ever imagine. The power of pleading prayer reaches beyond our four walls and demonstrates a faith which offers liberty for the operation of the Holy Ghost.

The bottom line is that others are depending on your prayers. It may be your son, sister, father-in-law, or boss. They are hoping that you will pray the surrogate prayer and tell Jesus that they love Him. After they get untied, freed from their shackles, surely they will say it for themselves, “Jesus, I love You.”

Don’t forget—he said Fabricio was his name.

ninetyandnine.com

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John Bradley Lambeth has been involved in missionary work in South America, especially Brazil, since he was a child. Although licensed as a Brazilian Attorney, he has worked full-time as a missionary for over 25 years. He won’t trade places with anyone!