Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Heart of Prayer

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 1 Tim 2:1

Paul is giving Timothy instructions regarding how to “fight the good fight” (1 Tim 1:18) in ministry. Is it any surprise that prayer would be a primary key?

I have struggled for some time with the idea of prayer. How do I truly pray for all of the requests that get mentioned to me? In this era of Twitter and Facebook, I can get requests that are seemingly totally unrelated to me. I have enough to pray for right in front of me. How can more be added to it? I’ll never pray enough!

I think that’s the point. No, there are not enough hours in the day to pray for everything in this world that can be prayed for. But, do I really utilize all of the opportunities I have to pray? So often my mind is filled with uselessness. Thoughts that don’t even really have immediate edification, much less eternal.

Frequently I see requests here and there and intend to put them on my prayer list to pray over. Yesterday I approached one differently. I saw the request, knew that if I didn’t pray immediately I’d forget, so I stopped right then and prayed. Thirty seconds. Quick prayer. I honestly cannot remember now the details of the request, and yet somehow I still feel connected to it. A part of it. A peace that it’s under control. That’s prayer.

I am challenged to see my privilege and responsibility to pray in a new and different light. In the light I saw it in yesterday. Stop now. Pray. Be involved. Even if I only pray over it once for thirty seconds, it’s still useful petition lifted up to heaven. And, when I do this one for thirty seconds and that one for thirty seconds, eventually I will be in the habit of continually lifting up “entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings…on behalf of all men” without being overwhelmed or limited. Oh may I truly, truly learn to have a heart of prayer!

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