"Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help." –Psalm 39:12
How many of us have sat in a room with others, in a hospital waiting room, at church as a prayer request was shared, or at the other end of phone call when tragic news of an accident or an illness was shared? I am sure that we can all remember and go to a place in our mind that still feels too terrible to seem real, even as we recall the moment; we can still feel what we did then, no matter the amount of time that has passed. That feeling like all the air had been sucked out of the room.
As we are faced with these instances in life, many times, we are at a loss for words. Our heart may be breaking for ourselves or for the person sharing the news and/ or the one most directly affected. As Christians, it is our belief that prayer changes things and that we can petition God to heal, comfort, provide peace, and give direction. So it is a customary response to offer prayer or to say that we will pray for them and the situation.
"They all joined together constantly in prayer." –Acts 1:14
I have been giving prayer some thought lately and I have come to a point of wishing that I was more diligent about doing it and about truly spending time praying for request that have been shared with or asked of me. I usually do well the first day or two and then life gets busy and I will see the person or someone with mention them and then I realize that I have not done my part of holding the situation up in prayer. And as you might imagine or know for yourself, I feel terrible and guilty.
The first thing that I plan to do is make sure that I write the request down. If I am busy elsewhere or my hands are full at the moment, I make a mental note, but oftentimes am distracted before I get a chance to write it down and then it may be lost. I like to write these requests down in my planner or on a post-it note so I can put them where I see them often.
I take prayer and praying for someone seriously so I think that another significant way to concentrate on the request and on God as I am praying is to make a list of what is needed and pray for each as I write it, or to open a document on my laptop and literally write my prayer as I pray it. I find that this usually brings up other areas that I can pray about and sometimes takes me deeper in all of the aspects of the original request. I believe that God honors this undivided attention and devotion by leading me in my prayer.
"Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help." –Psalm 39:12
When work gets busy, as life does, I will set reminders in my mind to tell me to pause even just for a moment to lift up a prayer. Maybe it is the phone ringing, or the door opening, the printer gearing up to print or a notification sound for an email. These are all things that happen all day long and while there may not be time to completely pull away from my desk during the day, I can take a second or two to mention a name in prayerful way.
Have you ever been in a situation where you were at a loss of what to pray? Which would be better, even if not always easier? I have. There have been times when a loved one lay in a hospital bed and was in such a state that death and heaven would be the most humane thing to ask, but the thought of bearing the loss was too much to allow myself to ask God to take them quickly. It is at times like this that I ask God to help me/us understand His will in the matter.
The Bible speaks of prayer and fasting. In Joel 2:15 there is a call issued- Blow the trumpet at Zion. Call for a special meeting. Call for a special time of fasting. While the fasting in the Bible refers to refraining from eating, sometimes health issues or medications may prevent you from doing that. When we fast and pray, our focus is sharpened as we feel the pains and longings of our physical body. It is possible to fast in another fashion if food fasting isn’t an option. Try fasting from social media, fasting from television, even fasting from electricity. If we are open and go to God with a heartfelt desire, He will lead us in what way we could abstain.
Because there are times that we are completely broken. There are times that we don’t know the details. There are times that we may be in the grocery store and instantly we are struck by the name or face of a person and we have no idea why, but we feel a concern and the urging to pray. The Bible tells us that even when we don’t know why or what to pray, the Holy Spirit petitions the Father for us. What a comfort to know that as we pray whether in a quiet prayer closet or in an office using a reminder like the phone ringing to prompt a quick prayer, there is nonstop intercession for us.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26
I would appreciate any thoughts on prayer and specifically anything that you do to have a strong prayer life.
Next week, I will be sharing a part of a personal experience in accepting God’s will when it differs from what we’ve requested.