777 Prayer
In the last one of these I spoke about prayer as a privilege – and a battle. That’s the main reason we find it hard; not because we are too busy or don’t have the opportunity or the resources. Some of those many be true, but the real reason prayer is hard is because it is a battle.
I have had a few conversations with some of you recently about prayer.
Anxiety
Some of those conversations have been about anxiety. In a time of difficulty when things feel out of control or too big for us to handle, or a lot of things are changing all at once, it’s understandable to feel anxious. If you’re like me, you might be tempted to reach for a glass of wine, or junk food – we all turn to things like that when we are anxious and stressed. The problem is, they simply distract us for a while.
In his letters Paul reveals he was often anxious, worried for his churches. His secret? It wasn’t a glass of wine or a pizza – it was to pray. Don’t for a moment think he found that easy. It was a choice, often I suspect a difficult one if my experience is anything to go by. In one sense prayer is the most natural thing in the world because we were made for relationship with our heavenly Father. In another sense it’s the hardest thing because it’s the one thing the enemy wants to stop us doing.
Healing
Some of the conversations I’ve had recently about prayer have been about healing. This is a hugely difficult area and I can’t answer all your questions now, partly because this is supposed to be short – but mostly because I don’t have those answers!
Some of us I know have witnessed miraculous healings. All of us will have prayed for healing and not seen it – physically at least. I’d like to say these four things about prayer for healing:
- God can and does heal people miraculously, and the Bible encourages us to pray for that, even though we don’t understand why some are healed and others are not.
- Praying for healing is not about the right words, or the strength of our faith – when Jesus says faith can move mountains his point is not about the amount of faith, or how strong it is, but the God in whom we trust. God is not in heaven with a faith-measuring device, withholding his love and favour until he finds enough faith in us. That’s not what he’s like at all.
- When we ask God to heal someone we love and they still die, that can affect how we pray for someone the next time: our prayers can become smaller and smaller; we ask for less so we aren’t disappointed.
- When Jesus teaches about prayer, he encourages us to be persistent, to pray simple prayers that express how we really feel (not to impress others) – and he reminds us that we are praying to our loving heavenly Father who invites us to trust him, come what may.
Week of Prayer
In a couple of weeks we are gathering to pray together for a whole week. We are coming together to pray not individualistically but as a community to seek the Lord, to present our requests to him, to listen to what he is saying to us. I am asking us to do this sacrificially; it might not fit’ easily into your plans, you might find it a stretch to pray like this, but I’m asking us to give it a go, together.
After all, in a time of change and anxiety, what better thing could we do? When our hearts long for healing, what more could we say? When we need encouragement, where else could we go?
So, my sisters and brothers, let us pray – together.
Revd Ben Green – Vicar