When We Pray

This will probably turn into some kind of ramble, but it’s on my heart so I’m just going for it. 

Yesterday in Sunday School we discussed the condition of our world today. We mainly focused our discussion on mass shootings  and how we respond to them inwardly and outwardly. We also pondered the questions we had about how we, as Christians, are called to respond to these things when they happen.  

We read a response from pastor and author Max Lucado who suggested inviting Jesus to join us in these surely turbulent times. He referenced  John 6 when Jesus walked on water to join His disciples in the midst of a storm and says to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

“This is the title of steadiness and power. When we wonder if God is coming, he answers with his name: ‘I AM!’ When we wonder if he is able, he declares, ‘I AM.’ When we see nothing but darkness, feel nothing but doubt, and wonder if God is near or aware, the welcome answer from Jesus is this: ‘I AM!’”

It didn’t really resonate with me yesterday in class. Then we sat through a wonderful sermon about listening when the Holy Spirit speaks to us.

All afternoon and this morning I’ve continued to think about my responses to the terrible things happening in our world. Even as a child of God, knowing full well His hand is mighty and present, I still feel angry. I still feel scared. And I mostly feel helpless. What can I do? How can I change things? 

If I am being honest, hearing that still, small voice is difficult for me. And then sometimes it just smacks me right in the face. The first song on the radio this morning was “When We Pray.” 

I thought about how tiny my prayers seem compared to the weight of the world and the heaviness of life waking up to bad news almost daily. I thought about how my prayers are often just out of desperation. They are often intercessory  on behalf of a hurting soul or an ailing body. But isn’t this a desperate time? Aren’t these souls and bodies in need of healing? 

My favorite lyric from that song says this: 

“All the world starts changing, when the church starts praying.”

If you’ve never witnessed the power that prayer has, I can tell you first hand that it is an incredible testament to the strength of God. There is something so powerful in being both on the giving and receiving end of laying hands on a person to have a heart saved or a body healed. 

I say all of that to say this. In a world that seems beyond help and in a time when we feel hopeless to change it, God is saying to us, “I am.” We just have to open our hearts to hear it.