40 Days of Prayer and My Brother Alan
By Jerry Page
My older brother, Alan, was very wild as a young person, ending up separated from the Lord and church most of his life. His self-centered life eventually cost him his first marriage to divorce. His health care career had made him a lot of money, but then he lost most of it. Occasionally he tried to become more involved with the church, but his lifestyle and habits always drew him back into a life without the Lord. Our family, including our parents, all prayed for Alan for years to wholly give his life to Jesus.
In the fall of 2010, my young pastoral son, Zac, and his wife, Leah, decided to make Alan one of seven people to focus on during a 40 Days of Prayer emphasis at Andrews University. About that time, I also felt deeply impressed to strongly plead for his salvation. Amazing things began to happen as God allowed circumstances in Alan’s life.
Major traumas began to attack Alan. His second wife left him, and his diabetes grew worse, leading to the amputation of a leg. Everything seemed to be going wrong for him. But one day while lying in a hospital bed, Alan finally reached out to Jesus and said, “I give my life totally to you”. We all praised the Lord.
His precious daughter, Christy, helped Alan work on building his relationship back up with God and the church. He became on fire witnessing to others and giving out literature for a while. But, as you know, Satan’s forces don’t give up easily when they see one of their captives finding God. He began slipping into his old habits, and was up and down, finally feeling he was too bad to be saved and giving up on his spiritual journey again.
Alan told me one day he felt that he just could not make needed changes and would not be able to live forever with the Lord. I shared again scripture verses about the power of our Lord to save us and urged him not to give up. I said, “Your family will not settle for that, and we are going to intensely keep praying for you. Jesus can save you!”
Christy kept taking him to a small church plant where they loved Alan and he enjoyed their fellowship. She talked him into going to a diabetes recovery seminar. He laughingly told us that he got rid of all the junk food in his refrigerator like they said, and there was nothing left!
On Friday evening a local church evangelist began a evangelistic series and this small church plant participated. Christy took Alan to the first meeting that night. At the ending appeal the evangelist urged people to mark their card if they wanted to be in heaven with Jesus. She said Alan marked his commitment in large letters – “Surrendered and covered by Jesus’ righteousness again!”
That night Alan was found on his kitchen floor dead from a massive stroke. What a God we serve. He found a way to save my brother Alan at the very last minute of his life! Alan was 75 when he died; our family and others had prayed for him his entire life!
Have you been praying for someone for years and not seen them come to Jesus yet? Never, never give up!
As I conducted Alan’s memorial service and listened to the joyful praises of two divorced wives, two loving daughters, many extended family relatives, partying friends, and work associates, my heart was so full of joy and praise to Jesus for His power to save anyone willing, at any time! My dear parents had passed away many years before Alan finally came back to Jesus. What a surprise that will be on that resurrection morning as they hug Alan and begin forever with Jesus together!
I urge you to really utilize these 40 Days of Prayer. Just imagine what our infinite God can do for you and through you as you urgently lift prayer requests to Him! He is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us!” (Ephesians 3:20, NKJV).
Jerry Page is Ministerial Secretary for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Heart Challenge
Is there someone in your life who is stuck in deep darkness? Or maybe someone you know who walked away from God, or who never seems to be able to stick with Jesus?
There is hope for that person, even if all seems hopeless. And we should never give up praying, interceding, and laboring for the salvation of these precious individuals.
Who comes to your mind as you reflected upon today’s testimony? What names may need your daily and continual intercession?
Day 4 (May 6th) Prayer Requests:
● Pray that God will teach you how to “stand in the gap” for those in need during these 40 days of Prayer.
● Pray for your list of 7 specific people and pray about any specific needs you know.
● Pray for provision for those who have recently lost their homes or loved ones through fire, flood, sickness or any other natural disasters.
● Pray for any missionaries you know, who are away from their home or family, that they may be filled with joy in their ministry.
Resources to Go Deeper
Join 24/7 United in Prayer
Join other believers from around the world praying together on Zoom during the 40 Days of Prayer: https://247unitedprayer.org