2018-7 - The Power of Prayer

To date we have now completed the Holy Cow Survey, the active listening sessions, created and distributed a profile of “us” (not a profile of what we are looking for), and invited, received and reviewed applications to be our new Bishop. We also held a meeting to decide who should progress onto the online Zoom interviews.

Throughout all these tasks I have noticed the power of communicating with, and listening for, God’s voice through prayer. I noticed how each of the applicants referenced their use of this powerful gift from God in their essays.

This is a reflection on how I saw prayer at work within this project and also in my day-to-day life.

In each task in this project we have either started our meetings in prayer, sometimes with Holy communion, or been asked to pray when undertaking tasks remotely. After a while this became second nature in any task I undertook.

Looking back on these tasks to date, I noticed that my prayers were different depending on the task I was undertaking or the situation I found myself in.

If I was undertaking a task that day or even if I was not I was careful to keep up my prayer life with daily prayers of ACTS: Adoration (praise and glory to God), Confession (for things we have done or have not done), Thanksgiving (for all our blessings), Supplication (for others and our own needs).

If I needed to focus and prepare for a task I would add centering prayer for discernment by asking a question, and then sitting and listening for God’s answer.

Throughout the process I have been frequently praying intercessory prayers for the applicants, and for the Nominating Committee team members, especially when the focus was on the tasks their sub-committee was undertaking.

There were times I could not focus and needed to say a short prayer to bring me back into a closer relationship with God, one favorite is the Jesus Prayer “Savior Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”. By repeating this over and over I was able to clear my mind of other distractions and be drawn into a closer relationship with God.

In my reflection on the theology of prayer in a specific task, or in my day to day life, I was struck by how powerful it is.

I think that prayer is often talked about but not often practiced even though it is one of the greatest gifts God has given us outside of salvation.

In my research on prayer I found a great quote by Frederick B. Meyer, an English Baptist pastor, evangelist and author. He said, "The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but un-offered prayer."

Instead of it being something we do every day, like breathing, eating and walking and talking, it seems so very often we associate prayer with crises in our life.

So, where else did I look to find out about prayer?

Well, it is throughout the Bible, the story of God’s relationship with the Hebrews and then with the whole of humanity. In this story God’s great commandments are “Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself”

I recognize I cannot do this without a right relationship with God and I cannot have that relationship if we do not talk – through prayer!

When I looked deeper for references to prayer I saw many verses that identify the importance and power of prayer, here are some of my favorites:

·         “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14),

·         "Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you." (Luke 11:9),

·         "Now He was telling them a parable to show them that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart." (Luke 18:1),

·         “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise” (James 5:13),

·          “Be anxious for nothing but in everything we should pray, giving thanks as we make our petitions known to God”. (Philippians 4:6).

There are many, many other prayers in scripture and I can often find one that relates directly to something we could be struggling with.

But I also recognize there are times I avoid praying because I just don’t feel like it, but those are the times I need to be exceedingly careful, the times when I really need prayer.

In my recent studies I read a quote from George Muller, a founder member of the Plymouth Brethren, Christian evangelist and planter of orphanages who had this to say about prayer:

"It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to read the scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were no use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer.

The truth is that, in order to enjoy the Word, we ought to continue to read it, and the way to obtain a spirit of prayer is to continue praying.

The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray."

Jesus always prayed constantly, because he knew the power of prayer and that it was not something to take lightly.

So, I thought about what happened to Jesus, and what happens to me when I pray and concluded:

·        As I pray I begin to become aware of how God might use me to answer prayers, and might involve me in ways I had not imagined,

·        Prayer forces me to be patient when God asks us to wait. Instead of getting frustrated we are not on my schedule, prayer forces me to be on God’s time,

·        Prayer opens my spiritual eyes and enables me to get in touch with what God is doing,

·        Prayer enables me to connect with God. In prayer God shows me what I am being guided to do through my feeling, thoughts, day-to-day experiences, visions, and dreams,

·        Prayer aligns my heart with God's heart, it strengthens my relationship with God and makes me ready for what I am guided to do.

So, as I progress through this project and in my day-to-day life I also pray that no matter what I am asked to do I will focus my thoughts and my hearts on “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).