Tag: Prayer

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Christian Blog Prayer

Safe Prayers are Dangerous

The Altar, St.Martin Of Tours, West Coker by Jeanette Rendell is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0

Imagine you visit a church for their mid-week prayer service. Walking in the front door you notice the spacious sanctuary, dark and empty. Down one hall, there’s light coming from an open door. You hear the unmistakeable sound of people praying.

Entering the smallish room, you are surprised to find only a handful of the church’s faithful. And what are they praying for? You read the prayer requests on the white board: “Bob has cancer. Theresa had a heart attack. Deacon Sam is under hospice care.“

“This is well and good,” you say to yourself. “But is that all?

Fellow blogger Gary Fultz commented on one of my recent posts, “Safe prayers are dangerous.” Immediately, I thought of how the corporate prayer ministries of many churches are a mile wide and an inch deep.

Shallow prayers are relatively “safe,”after all. I mean, who could be offended by them? But this also makes them dangerous. Because if it’s all we do, are we truly covering God’s Kingdom work?

WAIT. Hold the presses! I read a first draft of this post to my wife and she said, “Sweetheart, you’ve described a problem but offer no solution. “Well, uh….,” that’s me talking.

“So, how do YOU pray?” she asked. (Please imagine the sound of crickets chirping).🦗🦗🦗 I had no immediate response. Most of my prayers aren’t all that deep, either.

“Ok, how did Jesus pray?” she followed. 🦗🦗🦗 Despite being a former seminarian, I drew an almost complete blank. All that came to mind was The Lord’s Prayer, from Matthew 6:9-13. Well, it was a good start.

A little biblical digging revealed that Jesus said prayers of adoration, like when He praised God for revealing Himself to ordinary people (Matthew 11:25-27).

Christ also offered up prayers of intercession, like His High Priestly Prayer (John 17:1-26). Here, He prays for Himself–that He will complete His mission–and for His followers–that they will live in complete unity. Why? So that the world will know God sent Him.

Lastly, Jesus said prayers of thanksgiving, like when he thanked God for hearing His prayer to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 41.42). This is by no means an exhaustive list. Perhaps you can add to it?

Oops, I’ve rambled on for over 400 words. That’s not like me! I’m usually “Hemingway like” in my succinctness. Perhaps the following scripture sums up what I hope to say, after all.

For my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.

Isaiah 56:7b (NASB)

Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️ prayers and love

Categories
Christian Blog Prayer

A Tale Of Two Churches

The massive church, I visited while on a trip, was a sight to behold. The multi-acre campus was dominated by a circular building; one that looked more like a convention center than a traditional sanctuary.

The decor inside was just as grandiose. It was very “mall-like,” with lots of church folk wandering through a bookstore and lined up at a coffee shop.

Being a first time visitor, I decided to give myself plenty of time to find the sanctuary. I found it alright. It was a cavernous theater-style setup. I’m guessing 2000 seats.

With time to spare, I decided to wander around for a bit. Just outside the worship center, I noticed a single door with a sign that read, “Prayer Room.” Intrigued, I ventured in.

It was a comfy little nook, softly lit with trendy table lamps. The room smelled like fine leather furniture. But the most notable thing about this would-be-sacred space was what was missing: people. Unlike the bustling book store and coffee shop, the prayer room was empty.

I could hear the praise band warming up the crowd next door, but there was no one–this side of the wall–to warm God’s heart.

I heard a story about some Christians from the states who visited a large evangelical church while vacationing in Hawaii. It was ten minutes before the worship service but the sanctuary was half empty. Most of the regular attenders were in two large adjoining prayer rooms, lifting up their hearts to God.

The guests from the states found out later this was indicative of Polynesian culture. Many of the faithful at the church had been redeemed from a polytheistic background. Once, they had believed in many gods, but now they knew the one true God. For them, to come into His presence unprepared was unthinkable. “We need to set our hearts to worship God,” said one of the elders.

I bet the Lord came to THAT worship service!

Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️ prayers and love.

Categories
Christian Blog Prayer

From Stewing to Doing

Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels.com
Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels.com

If you know how to worry, then you know how to meditate.

Apostle Gabriel Cross, from Pure Glory

Brother Gabriel makes a valid point. Both worry and prayer involve fixating our thoughts. So why not focus on something productive?

Worry often involves more stewing than doing. Yet prayer is doing at the highest level—even if it’s from our knees. I love how Young’s Literal Translation describes this:

Cast on Jehovah that which He hath given thee, and He doth sustain thee. He doth not suffer forever the moving of the righteous.

Psalm 55:22 (YLT)

If we truly believe God causes all things to work for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), then our issues are His issues. So give them back to Him, silly! (That was me talking to myself 😇).

This past January marked my forty-fifth year being friends with God. And I can confidently say, along with King David, “I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken.” — Psalm 37:25 (NIV)

Kind reader, thank you for stopping by today. 🙏❤️ prayers and love.