Thinking about prayer lists:

Something To Think About Prayer Lists:

A bit of a warning, today's STTA is a bit more Theologically oriented than general.  I hope you'll read it and think about it, but you have been warned.   An old story tells about an un-churched man attending a small church prayer meeting.  As frequently is the case, this meeting involved more talking about what to pray about than it did actual praying.  After the faithful shared lists of prayer requests, and gave reports of answers to prayer, and other reasons for thanks, the newcomer announced, "Sure sounds like gossip to me." Yep.  I've been in that kind of "prayer meeting."  I've probably been the guilty party on more than one occasion. One of the modern concepts about prayer that is taken for absolute truth is the need for specificity in prayer.  "How will I know what to pray for, if you don't tell me?" is a question/rebuke that is often heard from prayer-warriors.  In response, folk who are very aware of the need for prayer--and in this regard there are two kinds of folk:  those who are aware that they need prayer and those who have an equal need but don't think about it--say things like, "Please pray specifically. . . ." It would be great if this started a profitable conversation about prayer.  I know I need to learn a great deal more about prayer.  Even more, I just need to learn to pray more.  And, I'm more aware than I ever have been of my need for prayer to be offered on my behalf.   I'm wondering, for instance, if our insistence on specificity in prayer has more to do with our addiction to instant information than it does with what the Bible teaches about prayer.  I've been reading about, and praying for a missionary friend who is in a dangerous, difficult place.  I was glad to see, this morning, that last night was uneventful.  I prayed accordingly.  As I read accounts from a couple of sources about my friend's situation I was reminded of some accounts of long-ago missionary service.  Some of those missionaries in the islands of the vast stretches of the Pacific would give a letter to a ship captain in hopes that it would eventually reach a church or a loved one.  Letters would contain news of sickness. Often the ailing person was dead and long buried, or miraculously cured, by the time the letter reached its destination.  Wasprayer a viable practice in that time--and historically, that is most of the time--before specific information could be swapped in what amounts to real time? When Jesus taught us to pray, He only implied specificity.  "Give us this day our daily bread." wouldn't pass muster with many prayer list makers (and one of my tasks today is to edit the prayer list for tomorrow's meeting).  "Do you need (want) white, whole-wheat, or rye?  Anybody in your family gluten-intolerant?  How many loaves would you think you need?"  That instruction about asking in prayer for daily bread is an invitation to make our needs known to our heavenly Father.  It is reinforced, by the Apostle Paul's words in Philippians 4:6, ". . . let your requests be made known."  Still, based on the prayers in the Bible that I do read, I don't imagine Jesus staying up all night or the Apostle Paul "praying always"  going through long lists that included things like Peter's bunion, or Timothy, weak stomach and all, staying well through the Sunday School picnic at Ephesus. Jesus prayed that His followers be kept in the name of God, that Christ's joy would be made full in them, for protection from the evil one, that they would be made holy by the truth, and that they would be united (see here).  When the Apostle Paul prayed for the Christians at Ephesus, he asked that God, "from his glorious, unlimited resources . . . will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. [that] . . . Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. [that their] roots will grow down into God’s love and [that they be kept] strong. . . . And . . . have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is, [and that they] . . . be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:16–19).  The fact is not only am I ignorant of what you need, and therefore what I ought to pray about, but so are you. I wonder.  In my quest for specific prayer requests am I in danger of specifically missing what the Lord says I ought to request?   It's Something to Think About. Find out about Christ's power to redeem here.