Feb 11

James 5: ¹³ Is anyone among you afflicted (ill-treated, suffering evil)? He should pray. Is anyone glad at heart? He should sing praise [to God]. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? He should call in the church elders (the spiritual guides). And they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name. ¹⁵ And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. (AMP)

 

I'm hugely undisciplined in prayer.  My prayers are usually short, self-centered, and needy.  I do thank God continually for my wife and my children and revel daily in the blessings they are to me.  I can clearly remember thinking when my kids were little that it was too bad they had to grow up as they seemed so perfect at that time.  Somehow God has had me grow with them and I appreciate every day with them as the best yet.  I also thank God for special people in my life who have become like family. 

 

Unfortunately, like my miserably weak prayer life, my appreciation for (probably all) of them ends with a short prayer of thanksgiving.  I've got to learn to pray for actionable ways to show my appreciation both to God and others.  While I think the worlds pressure to "just don't stand there, do something" poses a high risk of taking action outside of God's will, clearly we can't simply "don't just do something, stand there."  I need to have God teach me how to follow prayers of thanksgiving with an unmistakable message of what to do to better appreciate and minister to others. 

 

Perhaps like prayer, action guided by God's vision is a discipline.  For my prayer life to be effective and outwardly focused, I've got to journal.  I've got to write down prayer requests and stay focused upon them or my mind wanders and I lose track, then I simply quit and go on about my day.  Perhaps I need to be in constant prayer for just a few and pray for actionable plans that God needs to accomplish both in and through me. 

 

Finally, I end with a few questions.  Last night I asked Mom why it was necessary or advantageous for many people to join in prayer.  Do numbers praying or the length or "earnestness" of prayer somehow change God's mind?  I don't think so, but scripture seems to leave the door open to that possibility.  I think a number of people praying together provides an opportunity for them to become like-minded and aligned with God's will.  Additionally, the old testament likens the prayers of the saints to a "sweet aroma" unto God, so perhaps the prayers of many are an act of worship to our high and holy God.  Still, I wonder why God says "where two or three are gathered together, there I am also."  I know God lives in me and is therefore constantly with me.  So what does it mean to join in corporate prayer?  Can't one single prayer, muttered under ones breath get the message to heaven?  Perhaps the discipline of prayer is a tool God uses to force us to "be still and know..."