PRAYER IS A MYSTERY TO ME
Sometimes I find myself a little bothered by how flippantly people throw around the word “prayer.” If the truth were known, I think that people often say “I am praying for you” because they don’t know what else to say or, perhaps, they are getting ready to say good-bye. I have been guilty of both, and when we do this we demean what Jesus was talking about when he encouraged us to pray.
There are times when we might even be tempted to use “I am praying for you” as a passive-aggressive way of expressing disapproval. That is, we disagree with a person, but we don’t want to be assertive in showing disagreement because somehow we think it’s not proper so we simply tell them “I am praying for you,” which really means “I am right and I am believing that one day you will see the light and come over to my position.” But when we do that we are now actually the ones using prayer as a passive-aggressive mechanism. It is not really prayer; it has everything to do with getting our point across.
You and I have also known groups who like to call themselves “prayer groups,” which simply means that they now have a sense of legitimacy to conduct their gossip while still connected to the church!
In contrast to all of the above, I have discovered that there is a deep and abiding mystery to prayer. It is to be handled with respect, and with some fear and trembling. For me, prayer is bound up in a very important relationship, and it is silence more than it is talking. Also, what we ask for in prayer, and how we ask for it, reveals a great deal about our relationship with God.
The great apostle Paul recognized this same struggle with prayer, for in Romans 8:26 he states, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” So when we approach prayer as a mystery, we are in pretty good company.
There is a glorious mystery in standing before Almighty God and simply sighing. So beware of those who “know the script and rattle off some words” in meaningless repetition. With this in mind, I am taking this time as an opportunity to pray for many of you by name.
Devotedly your pastor,
Bill Blanchard