They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray...Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. Mark 14:32, 36
The young woman sat in my office and asked if I would pray that her divorce proceedings would result in the outcomes she desired. I asked her if I could pray that her marriage would become a model of God’s fondest hope for her.
She wasn’t interested...
My experience as a minister tells me prayer...while the most powerful tool we possess for victorious living...is one of the least effective because it is the least understood.
What a wasted asset...
Prayer, as designed by God, is an intimate dialogue (with Him) intended to unleash the will of our Father into our lives. His indwelling Holy Spirit serves as our mediator and interpreter. What could possibly go wrong? Sadly, forty years of pastoral ministry tells me the Body of Christ has repurposed prayer in a way that it now looks more like a tool to unleash our own will upon God or to parade our rhetorical eloquence before the congregation.
Pharisees...no longer intimate and no loner deferential.
In Gethsemane Jesus modeled pray perfectly. One thing that sticks out to me is His need for solitude. He wanted to “get alone” with God so nothing would disrupt His conversation. He took time to express his fears and desires but humbly deferred to the will of His Father. It took so long that His disciples fell asleep..
Congregational prayer is useful and effective but it’s one vulnerability is our human tendency to say “the right things”. Personal prayer strips away our need to make it performance art. One positive outcome of COVID-19 “stay at home” orders is the sudden infusion of solitude in our lives that could become fertile soil for powerfully effective prayer...on God’s terms.
Live boldly out there today...
