Our Extraordinary God
“This kind [of spirit] can come out only by prayer” (Mark 9:29, NIV)
Pray continually (1Thessalonians 5:17)
[Epaphras] is always wrestling in prayer for you (Colossians 4:12)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Do you want to see God do great things in your life? In our church? In this city? In this land? In the world? I hope the answer to all those questions is a resounding ‘Yes!’
Then we look at the reality, and we see the gap, and we wonder what’s missing? Is it that we’re not praying enough? After all, Jesus said that some things only happen by prayer. And maybe we haven’t been continuous in our praying (who is?) or not wrestling hard enough or long enough (or at all). So, do we just need to pray more?
Well, we certainly do need to pray, to call on our generous and awesome Father in heaven, asking for his name to be honoured, his kingdom to come and his will to be done (among other things). But there’s a way of thinking about our praying which makes it all depend on us, and on our praying. Have we prayed often enough, long enough, intensely enough? The answer, of course, is always that we could have prayed more. Rather than asking ‘Have I prayed enough?’, a more useful question would be ‘Have I prayed (at all)?’
Matthew Rhodes (in his book No Shortcut to Success) is writing about prayer in the context of missionary work, but his words have a far wider application: “Prayer works because God is great, not because we are … The length of time we pray, the intensity with which we pray, the certainty we have as we pray – none of that is very important. We live ordinary lives. We do ordinary work. We pray ordinary prayers. And through it all we ask our extraordinary God to be at work. Let’s entrust our prayers into his loving hands and then get back to the small but necessary tasks he has given us.”
Lord, teach us to pray. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)