Because of some
recent political drama I’ve had a lot people telling me that they were praying
for me. I’m grateful and appreciative of any and all prayers, but two
individuals intervening on my behalf have never really struck me as being
people of prayer. It may be that they recognize I’m a person of faith, and
knowing I value prayer, this is their way to support me. “Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of
incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” (Rev 5:8b NIV) I always thought
it might be interesting to take a look-see at those captured prayers of the
saints…but now I’m thinking about my own contribution to the bowl over the
years.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----I wonder what you mean by these two people never having struck you as being people of prayer. Maybe few or none of the things and interests showing in their activities bespeak an inclination towards the Lord or even uprightness? Maybe they actually show a downrightness? When I am in need of prayer I go to the people I perceive to be the most upright and humbly inclined towards God’s will and commandments. A search of the Scriptures concerning prayer returns far more scriptures regarding correlation between a certain uprightness of the beseecher and a favoring response by God than anything else. And the second topic most addressed in the Bible is about how the prayers of the wicked and unrighteous go unheard. Twenty four years ago I faced a significant distress in my life and read RC Sproul’s book about prayer (I forget the title, off hand.) The sense he made of the connection between effective prayer and righteousness impressed me greatly enough that I went through a period of significant change. Shortly afterward I was partnered with a fine bride who was sound of mind and strong in the Lord.
-----But uprightness can’t be everything about prayer. After I read that book I became more upright than I had been, but less than I am now. And my plans, if they are worth anything, are to be more upright later than I seem to be able to be today. And I know that however righteous I may get in this life, however more I might get akin to Sister Teresa than to Adolf Hitler, when compared to the Lord’s righteousness, we three will yet be closer to a common bar of righteousness than to His godly bar.
-----But that isn’t the way He sees it. He doesn’t look at the being of our own righteousness. He looks at our desires for righteousness being placed upon belief in Christ. Here’s a couple other elements the Bible relates to effective prayer. It’s only natural that belief in Christ would be linked to heard prayer, because He is the doorway of approach to God. Ladders for going over the wall, picks and shovels for tunneling under it, or double-jacks for busting through it are the only means of approach for the downright unrighteous, and we know what the Word says about their being heard. And it isn’t that we are much less unrighteous than they that we are heard. It’s just that we go through the doorway that makes us righteous, because that is what somebody who believes does. But is going through the doorway all there is to it?
-----There is this other thing about prayer. It isn’t enough to desire and ask. There has got to be some kind of reality about the desire. I relish a desire to be rich like Bill Gates. I’ve even talked to God about it. But although it’s a relished desire it’s not a real desire, because I refuse to do anything about it. I desire enough money to pay my bills, and I do something about it though I can not do everything about it. So my desire’s reality made by doing what I can is the being of my faith that He will do what I can not. Similarly, the reality of my uprightness is made when a neighbor asking me to pray for a dollar gets from me my spare dollar rather than a prayer. The reality of a prayer is in the reality of the beseecher.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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