Prayer is one of those things of faith that has an appeal beyond the borders of religion. I've rarely run into someone who when I asked if I could pray for them, said "no thank you." In times of tragedy, public officials will often call citizens to pray for specific people or circumstances. In moments of death, it is often said by even the non-religious, "our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones." Truly, there is an appeal to prayer that tugs at the hearts of so many who wouldn't shadow the door of a church, or profess to be a Christian of any sort.
I wonder often to who or what directionless prayers are offered, and if they're received, how they are responded to. Does Jesus Christ receive all prayer regardless of who its directed to? I believe the God of the Holy Bible is the one true God, so is it Him who hears all of it? It's a curious consideration, but since I know the one to whom I pray and expect him to receive it maybe all that sort of thought is meaningless. I know that as a follower of Jesus, he promises to be the mediator and take my prayers offered in faith into the throne room of the Creator of the universe.
So if that's true and I know enough about prayer and that they are heard and are received by the Almighty God how should that shape and form my prayers? How should that knowledge move me to pray perhaps differently that I do?
The phrase that echoes in my mind in response to these questions is to "pray boldly". If I know who is receiving my prayers and I acknowledge that his ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts are higher than my thoughts; if I understand that his Will will be done if it agrees with my prayers or not; if I know that prayers offered in faith can change the mind of God (Ex. 32:14, Jonah 3:10), then for me to step up boldly in prayer and ask the incredible, the impossible, the thing that's 10 steps beyond rational seems absolutely appropriate.
To pray for comfort from cancer for a sick person is something that I regularly do. But to pray for full and miraculous healing that points all who bear witness to the only, loving God who can heal like that is not something that I do regularly. To pray for opportunities to share my faith is a regular prayer, but to pray that the person in the restaurant who I do not know might have a Saul/Paul/road to Damascus experience so that they might come face to face with God is not a prayer I offer.
Why not? Don't I believe that God can do that? Don't I understand that God wants to do that sort of thing in his world? He doesn't want to do it for my sake so that I can feel like a prayer giant. He wants to the amazing, the miraculous, the thing beyond explanation because when he does it, it pushes the witnesses to wonder what sort of incomprehensible being could do something like that. When God takes the shutters off and lets loose with the abundance of his power, Creation takes notice. Some might explain it away, some might ignore it, but some won't. Some will watch, and wonder, and know that God is real and that he continues to be active in the world that he gave to humanity.
Of course scripture reminds us to ask of God rightly. "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives..." James 4:3. Then for me to pray boldly, I need to ask the incredible of God with the right motives: God's glory and his alone. "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." John 15:7,8
As I pray without ceasing today, may God expand my heart to believe in his incredible power. May Christ enlarge my mind to believe that he who came to redeem the world continues that work, in part, through people of faith who are willing to really believe in what he's done and expect him to continue that work to its completion. May the Spirit empower me to the belief that his love for his people is bigger, wider, longer, deeper and more amazing than I could ever imagine. May my prayers be God sized prayers where he does what only he can do and takes all the glory to himself.
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