The More the Merrier ?
May 8, 2009
When it comes to prayer, the more people we can possibly get to pray for us and with us, the better off we obviously are, correct? In our modern era of instant communication we can easily bombard the Lord with many more prayers from many more people (prayer warriors) so we are obviously at a very beneficial time in history? IS THIS TRUE?
Now before I proceed I would like to anticipate some objections to what I am about to say and answer them up front. 1) I am not saying corporate prayer is unnecessary. This is a very important part of body life in the church. Times that the body comes together united in prayer are some of the most blessed times I have had in my Christian walk. (Now it is time for a commercial free of charge to Pastor Tim; if you have not joined us in corporate prayer or the pastor’s prayer you ARE MISSING A BLESSING). 2) I am not saying we should not help carry our brothers and sisters burdens. The Bible is clear that we should intercede on behalf of other people and we all remember what Paul says in Timothy to offer up prayers for all people.
What I want to discuss is what I see as a trend modern day Christians are falling into, either (not an all inclusive list) through laziness, busy-ness, lack of personal responsibility, or lack of knowledge. I am not questioning motive here, this problem is not caused by ill motive; rather the opposite, we are being well intentioned. I believe that when we have something we want to petition the Lord for, we, for reasons mentioned above, usually go to the computer and let the world know our issue so that they will pray with us and for us. We unconsciously tend to think that this is the best way to get our prayer answered; instead of going to God in earnest ourselves. We all know prayer warriors and we want to get them busy petitioning God for if one can put a thousand to flight, two can put ten thousand to flight; we SELDOM DO the business of prayer ourselves for ourselves. My question to you is this. By the logic just mentioned (many people praying) if prayers are more readily answered this way; what do you suppose people did before technology? Do we get more prayers answered today because we can get more people to pray for the same thing? I have to say that I do not believe prayer works this way and I want to issue a challenge.
Before we send out the email for our request shouldn’t we take the time to go before the Father our self? I believe this is the pattern for prayer and not e-mail chains. The examples I am about to give are individuals in petition with no mention of how many people they have standing with them. One example is the widow coming continually before the judge and the judge giving her the request because of her importunity. How many of us can say we were importunate before we hit the computer. The Bible says the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Being in Christ we can approach the Father in His righteousness; how many of us are fervent before we type. Paul in the book of Romans says the Spirit helps us when we do not know how to pray, not the e-mail chain. I know we give our Catholic friends a hard time about praying to dead people and not to the Father himself, but aren’t we just as guilty by asking living people to do our task of prayer.
Now I know you have heard this saying “if the shoe fits, wear it”. Many reading this may not be guilty of the above and if not then ignore what I have said. But, if you are like me, and been guilty let’s confess that we are guilty and approach prayer in a whole new way. Let’s take up the challenge to really petition the Father when he lays a request upon our hearts. Then, when it has really been important enough for us to spend some time in prayer with God over, then and only then let us call upon our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s not be guilty of asking someone to do for us what we have been unwilling to do.