My Attention
Today’s mail brought the usual: mostly junk mail, including “goody books” and ads for local sales, but it also included a prayer calendar for a missions group in India. I confess that the goody books held more allure.
One in particular, a high-end catalog of unique stuff, tempted me to take a peek. Skillfully conceived to draw the shopper in, the cover was truly beautiful. It grabbed my attention; begging me to linger long enough to buy.
I thumbed through this thing that comes, maybe 2-3 times a year. The catalog is pretty absurd. Laughable, even. It’s clearly for those that have everything.
I mean, why would anybody want/need/desire/actually purchase a $350.00 map of ballfields, complete with dirt? Yes, you got that right. You get authentic dirt from 30 ball fields, framed in plexiglass.
But what really stopped me short was the plastic “personalized” child’s engine repair gizmo for $130.
Wait a minute. Jack Jr. can have his name emblazoned on his own plastic fake engine? I guess he might want to tinker in mechanics without having to go outside and get greasy. For only 130 bucks.
I glanced over at the unopened prayer calendar. Tossing aside the absurd, I picked up a reminder of that which is real.
What’s Real
What’s real is that my brothers and sisters in many places on this globe don’t collect dirt. They live with it, sleep on it, and deal with it, daily.
What’s real is that little children are denied basic food relief because their family believes in the name of Christ. The hunger of these little ones is just one form of persecution that the faithful in other lands endure.
What’s real is that Christians — our relations, in Christ — are being executed for having downloaded bible software onto their cell phones. My sweet sisters over the age of 14 are being forced into “marriage” by brutal regimes. Their lives have now become a waking nightmare.
Yet, here in the States, I’m invited to mindlessly glance through absurdity.
Insidious Allure
How has the allure of too many riches in this insulated world of ours affected you? Me? Do you feel it, the absurdity, the allure, the deceit of riches?
Yet, what can we do? So the world is unjust, but, after all. I can do little to change it, we may think. Really?
Is that so?
Let’s read the words of Christ:
“ Now He was telling them a parable to show them that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying,
‘There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, and did not respect man.
And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’
And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wear me out.’
And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge said;
Now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?’”
Luke 18:1-8
Will He Find Faith?
What kind of faith will Christ find on the earth, when He returns? The Lord Jesus asks this probing question of you, and of me.
Will he find strong, robust, effective faith, or puny, ineffective, worthless faith? Will He find houses full of mindless rubbish, and spirits sitting empty, bereft of any substance?
Or will He find us on our knees, sharing our food, or wealth, and our time for the Kingdom of God?
The Call
So, back to my morning mail. Challenged to pursue what matters to God, (and a bit chagrined for jumping to the “stuff” catalog first) I sat down with the prayer guide. I read the whole thing, and I then said a prayer.
I did some chores, and finally got around to checking my emails.
What’s this? An urgent prayer alert for the starving children in Ethiopia? So much suffering. The email asks God’s people to consider fasting a meal, and instead of eating, to use that time to fervently pray for God’s intervention in this horrific humanitarian crisis.
Go Without a Meal?
Umm, what kind of prayer is this…prayer that involves all of me, to the point of discomfort? Go without a meal?
How might that work, to skip a meal, and focus on what God is focused on?
Intercessory praying involves an action: it is a purposeful decision to move our gaze off of ourselves, our worries, and even our needs. It is a moment where we act with the courage of love; where we focus on the stark realities of the suffering, that so many endure, on this globe, right here, right now, today.
Intercessory prayer is joining forces with the mighty arm of God. It is leaning in to what God sees, and knows, and cares about.
It is getting serious about our faith (unnoticed, away from our fellows) in earnest supplication. And in so doing, as our hearts are joined closer to His, we ourselves are changed. We formerly worldly, carnal materialistic beings begin to care in a way we didn’t, before.
These prayer guides and emails were good reminders to me today. It’s time to get our prayer action on. It isn’t a request, by the way. It is a command.
We are called to pray!
We are invited to join God in His work for humanity.
Prayer for the starving.
Prayer for the persecuted.
Prayer for the throngs in the slums.
For the victims of war.
For the refugees.
For the cold.
For victims of sex trafficking, slavery, and child labor.
For victims of earthquakes, floods, and landslides.
For the sick, and the suffering.
For religious and political prisoners unjustly confined, mistreated, tortured.
For God’s righteousness, justice, and God’s mercy to prevail.
For His quick return.
But Do We Really Believe It?
In order to pray for all these needs and more, we need to believe in a God who hears!
Do we believe in such a God?
In the above passage from Luke’s Gospel, we find Jesus wondering this very thing. It’s a significant question.
Will there be faith?
Because without faith, we won’t bother, you know. We won’t bother to do like the widow in the parable from Jesus, we won’t persist.
If we think He’s not listening, we won’t bother.
If we think our prayers are powerless, we won’t try.
If we secretly believe that He won’t actually ever do anything, really and truly, about it? We won’t ask.
The reality is, prayer is a weapon, at our disposal, to do real work, in the real world, rife with real suffering.
You and I have access to this weapon. We can be God’s force for good, right where we are. Read how the amplified version puts this verse from James:
Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses],
and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored.
The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) is able to accomplish much
[when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].
James 5:16
Justice, At Last
That lousy judge in the story Jesus told finally did help the woman, but only because he was tired of being bothered. She was a nuisance. She bugged him.
“Fine!” You can hear him say, as he slams his scroll down on the marble table. “Send the woman in, and do whatever she needs. Just get her off my case!”
Justice, at last.
Our Judge is both Righteous and Good. He does see, and He does care, and He does somehow, I don’t know why, allow some of us to live in free and wealthy places while He allows others to face hardships and dangers and privation and starvation that some of us will never know.
It doesn’t make sense. Yet here’s one thing we do know: we know that we have been instructed to pray. We haven’t been invited into the counsel of the Almighty, and He hasn’t requested our input.
He is the God from forever, and forever, who will provide justice in His good time. Will we trust Him enough to act? To do our part in this thing? Because we do, in fact have a part.
We are instructed to join in His righteous and just cause for righteousness and justice. We are commissioned to make a real difference, by interceding, by standing in the gap for all the world.
We are privileged to raise those who suffer to the very throne room of God. Thus our prayers are mighty in the heavenly realms.
Do you believe that?
God will act, you know. You can be sure of that. He will perform His will. He will return. The question is, do we want to be a part of His plan? Let us commit ourselves, and pray as the warriors He has called us to be.
“Now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily.”
He is a righteous judge. He will hear, and He will act. Oh, that we would believe enough, care enough, persist enough.
It takes faith to pray, faith to believe that He is. And that He is good. And that we can trust Him with our requests.
It takes a persistence like the widow in the story. Persistence to see justice done. But we won’t keep on praying if we don’t believe it…
- That He sees.
- That He knows.
- That He cares.
- That He will, in fact, act.
What do you think? “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
A Prayer
Holy God, Thank you that you have chosen us to be alive and to make a difference on this globe, right now, for such a time as this.
We don’t understand the reasons you allow the suffering and the misery around the world. But we believe that You are good, and You are just, and You have Your perfect reasons, that we cannot understand.
And so give us the grace to trust You enough, and love You enough, to let that go. To set aside the “why”, and to focus instead on the “Who”. And that “Who”, is You.
You, O Lord, are the good and powerful King, and so we entrust to you this world that You made. We pray that Your Son will speedily return, and set up His Kingdom here, on this earth.
We pray for Your kingdom to come, and Your will to be done, on this earth, in this city, in this home, in this heart. You are the Sovereign King, and we proclaim it. Like the priests marching into battle ahead of the warriors, like them we shout out Your praise amid the din of battle all around. Like them, we step into the battle to do the work You have called us to.
So now we pray for Your deliverance upon those who suffer injustice, Your healing for those in pain, your mercy for those who are perishing, for your calming Presence and peace for those who are afraid. We pray for righteous rulers to rule in every land, for the demolishing of evil regimes that persecute the just, for food and water to those who hunger, and for peace and justice for those facing war.
We pray for your Truth to reign where lies are rampant, and where falsehood is accepted as truth. Expose the treacherous, and send speedy justice to the oppressed, the kidnapped, the trafficked, the addicted, the confused, and overwhelmed.
We especially pray for the children of this world, young lives traumatized by war, and hunger, abuse, and lies. Bare your mighty right arm, O God, and come speedily to rescue and save. Rescue those in mental torment and emotional disarray, and all soldiers suffering from PTSD.
By your power, and through your Son, and in Your great name we pray for our world. We lift up our brothers and sisters in the faith, and for all who name the Name.
Stir us into action; embolden us to proclaim Your truth. Equip and protect all who minister in Your Name, and keep them ever abiding, close to You. You tell us in Your Word that if we ask anything in accordance with Your will, we will have the requests which we ask. You say that you do not desire that anyone perish, but that all come to You. So we boldly take our stand against unbelief, and pray for the salvation of the lost, the inquiring, and the confused. Make clear their paths, to find their way to You.
You say that if we seek, and ask, and knock, that You will be found, that You will answer, and that You will open the door. We pray that You would do just that, in all these areas, and more. Show us more, teach us more, and open us up to find you.
You say that in Your presence there is joy, evermore. We lift up thankful shouts of joy for our relationship with you, now; that we indeed have Your presence with us every moment, and that we can worship You with every breath. We yearn for that day when we are present with You in the body! We await your coming with expectation and joy! We glorify and exalt you and wait to see your judgment swiftly performed, when we will finally understand what is now a mystery.
Now to You, the Eternal, Invisible, Almighty, the Only God, be glory and honor, and blessing forever and ever. Amen.