Prayer

(wrote this ages ago, but for some reason never posted it..)

I realize that the title of this blog isn't catchy or attention grabbing. It's simply one word; a word that most of us don't want to hear about or think about cos it summons guilt. However, it is what has very much been on my heart lately. I'd like to invite you to take a few minutes to watch probably my favorite Youtube video I've ever seen. It's hard, and it's convicting...but it's worth it!

There was a time when I prayed a lot, but none of those prayers were all that legit. You see, I was praying with my head and not my heart. I can vividly remember the day when all that changed. I was sitting in the closet of my dorm room during my senior year of college. I had my list of people and circumstances that needed prayer in front of me. However, I only made it to one of those- a member of my family that was going through a really hard time. As I prayed for deliverance, freedom, hope, restoration, etc. a weird thing began to happen: tears rolled down my cheeks and turned into sobs erupting from my chest. I remember apologizing to God for ruining prayer time with all these emotions... And then He gently spoke to my heart, then and in the days to come, "This is what it's all about; prayer touching your heart to the point of feeling and acting on the behalf of someone else!" Intercession!

That day seems long, long ago, but the lesson learned has stuck with me. It's the lesson spoken of in the video above. Anguish. Discomfort. Grief. Bearing the burden of another. Things that don't come natural to us humans. Especially in this day and age. We're creatures of comfort! Of convenience. And truly we can be; technology affords us any comfort and ease our hearts so desire! We're one of the most selfish people groups this world has ever known, here in the West... But that's a rant for another day and another blog! However, look how that plays out in our prayer lives: We offer prayer like a condolence, a parting of ways when someone's struggling. It sort of reminds me of how I toss out a friendly: "How are you?" when I see someone I know and don't really expect an answer. Both parties know that person will likely not be praying for them or for anything else. I've seen it demonstrated over and over these past few years when someone tells me they'll pray for something or someone in Kosovo and when I see them again they can't even remember me even talking about said thing. I'm guilty of it too. But I think the heart of the issue is a bit deeper...

I remember in high school watching an old war movie (you know, the boring ones they're allowed to show- documentary style) on WWII. Part of it was in regards to the villages surrounding the concentration camps, and how they 'didn't know that one mile (or less) away was one of those camp'. I remembering being in shock over this bit of information. Thousands upon thousands of bodies being burned, the cries of starvation, torture, and death echoing out, people escaping... How could they not know? But there's this part of our brain that shuts off when it gets overwhelmed. A young woman abused as a child with no recollection of the abuse. How's that possible? Her mind blocked it out- it was too horrific and painful to process and feel. We treat this world the same way. People have told me, to my face, "I'd rather not know those things", "I don't know how you lived there, saw those things, or did that", "I can't handle thinking about all that." I've always been sweet and attempted a smile, even changed the subject...all while seething internally. How can you just not know? How can you just not care? How can you try and tune it all out? IT'S THE WORLD! This place where you live. I'm talking about a person; not one ounce made from anything different than yourself! Blows my mind that someone could call themselves a Christian and turn their head away! Read the Old Testament- nearly every rebuke has to do with this same issue. Ignoring the orphan, forgetting the plight of the widow, oppressing the foreigner, not helping, not giving, not caring, being self-focused and driven...What about God? What about His heart? Read the Gospels and see who Jesus loved and spent time with!

I get it. I get that it's overwhelming, uncomfortable, awkward, and requires a lot. And I think God would expect us to do nothing, cos truly we can't, if it was left up to ourselves. But He didn't leave us that way. We have prayer, and we have the Holy Spirit. There is power beyond measure and what I can write on this page in both of those things!

John Hyde, at the end of his life, would pray for God to save 4 souls a day through his life and words. And he would pray each night until God gave him the peace that He was going to do that the next day...and it would happen! George Mueller never let a single request pass his lips except in prayer; he ran 4 homes for hundreds of orphans, pastored a church, and did countless other ministries. No child ever went hungry. And the money that is recorded in his log books is astronomical- all given as a result of Mueller's prayers. Or take the revivals that swept through Europe or the US- they were rooted in people praying night and day. Or Charles Spurgeon, Jonathon Edwards, Charles Finnley...these great men would spend hours (sometimes all day) on their knees in anguish for those around them. Where are these warriors today? Why am I not following in their footsteps? Why do I allow Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, games on my phone, or whatever 'straws' I decide to grasp at to fill my time distract me all day long? Half-hearted prayers fill my life. "God, please save so and so. Please rescue this person from this addiction. Would You provide for him? Be near her..." A mere sentence here and there throughout my day. No, that's not wrong, but where is my heart? Where are my tears? Where's the anguish; the battling for another person on my knees? Where is my love?

I guess it all boils down to this: if I really believe what I say I believe, wouldn't it show up more in my worship of the Lord through prayer? Do I believe in hell? Yes! But am I praying for the lost that encircle my life on a daily basis? Do I truly believe in the freedom and life offered in Christ? Yes! What of those around me that have yet to experience that? Do I love the kids God has put in my path? What about the people my friends serving the Lord around the globe ask for prayer for? How can I pass all this by without letting it penetrate my heart, mind, and soul?

May the Lord raise up a generation humble enough to seek His face in prayer to the point that it's as natural as breathing in and out!!