There was a little girl who attended worship services with her mother every Sunday. She noticed how the congregation would pray with great intensity for people whenever they were sick. She joined in these prayers with great hope and faith. The little girl became troubled whenever one of the people she prayed for died and the prayers for that person would cease. She asked her mother why this happened. Her mother guessed that it might have something to do with the fact that the person was now in heaven and didn’t need their prayers any more. Her mother changed the subject when her daughter asked, “But what if they’re not in heaven?”
The little girl was still troubled by this situation and took the question to her Sunday school teacher. The teacher told her that those who passed away were in God’s hands now and didn’t need their prayers. The little girl asked her how it could be that people weren’t in God’s hands before death, and if they weren’t in God’s hands, whose hands were they in? The teacher was glad when the little girl’s mother came to pick her up from class.
The little girl was still deeply troubled and approached the pastor with her query. The pastor thought for a moment. “I don’t know why we don’t pray for those who have left this life. I feel we may be wrong about this. From now on we will continue to encourage people to pray for those who have died as long as they are inspired to do so. Why would people need our love and prayers any less in the next life?”
Secrets of the Story
I wrote this story because it has troubled me for quite some time that the congregation to which I belong does not tend to pray for people after they die. (Although I have heard rumors that the current pastor has been known to pray aloud for people who have passed.) We usually pray a lot for people up until the moment they die, then we shift our collective prayers for those who are left behind. When I have brought up this concern about the cessation of our prayers for those who have recently transitioned to the spirit world, I have heard the same reasons as the little girl in the story, and they have not put my concern to rest yet.
All people are in God’s hands whether they know it or not, and yet I pray for myself and others frequently. I haven’t yet met anyone who has been outside of the circle of God’s Love and care even though I have met many people who are unaware to God’s Love for them. On a daily basis, I still forget the great Love and care that Gods showers upon me (and everyone else) each and every moment.
I pray for myself and those on earth and in the spirit realms because we can all benefit from love. It is love that connects each and every soul regardless of where a soul may be, who a soul may be, or what a soul may be doing. Divine Love connects those who desire a connection to God’s Great Soul as well. When you are inspired to pray for anyone (including yourself!) feel free to do so. If your prayers come from the depths of your soul, you can’t go wrong.
I titled this story “The Sixth Sense” because the little girl in my story has a sense that people in the afterlife may benefit from our love in the form of our prayers just like Cole, the character played by Haley Joel Osment in the M. Night Shyamalan movie of the same name, discovers that there are people in the afterlife and in this life he can help with his gift.
Both stories show that the most important “sixth sense” we have is our ability to feel love – receiving it in abundance from God and giving it away to others just as freely.
I too, never thought to pray for those who passed, until Divine Love messages suggested that I pray for those in spirit just as they pray for me. An awakening from perhaps a mindset that they no longer need our prayers because they were in their graves. The dead no nothing. The misguided and misunderstood scriptures that we grew up with. An enlightening story to make your readers scratch their heads in wonderment.
For those who are aware of God’s Love, death is no longer a deal-breaker. As our beloved brother Paul so beautifully put it in Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”