Heaven, interrupt me

1. If we turn to prayer as a final desperate measure, only after all our own efforts have been exhausted, what does this reveal about our view of the following:

a.     Prayer – That it is only for emergencies

b.    Ourselves – That we can handle it all up until the emergencies and only then do we need help

c.     God – That we don’t think God listens to the small potatoes or He doesn’t have time to deal with the little things.

2.    If you truly believed that your prayers make no difference and that "everything would happen exactly as it does" without you praying, how would this impact your prayer life?

I certainly wouldn’t be so stressed about not praying enough. Or perhaps there is a part of me that believes my prayers do not have an impact and that is WHY I don’t try (train?) harder. Ok, God, You definitely have Prayer Warriors here on earth. Many surround me. They are average everyday people, but when someone is in need of prayer, my response has been, I’ll gather up my prayer warriors. Not meaning that a bunch of us will take up the prayer, BUT that I will pass on the request to those that pray ever so well. I’m sorry for passing the buck. Please forgive me for not respecting that you have made me worthy and able to come to You in prayer. You have given me the gift of language, not just for interacting with others, but most especially for interacting with You.

3.    Describe a time you prayed and saw clear and definite results. How did this answered prayer spur you on to pray more passionately?

This time isn’t exactly what it is asking for, but it is the time that I felt most connected in prayer and I knew that I was “doing it right.”

My church put out a call for members to stop and take 5 minutes of prayer at a certain time of the day. If I recall, it was via a tweet. There was very little information. I think it was just asking for members to join staff in prayers. I remember thinking: That’s cool. I can do that. I set my phone alarm and right before the “exact time” because that is my way, I went to the basement bedroom and got comfortable in a kind of meditative position on my bed. And I just said: God I don’t know what this is for. Send your Holy Spirit to lead me to pray as needed. And then I knew that I was praying for the pastors and I knew that I was praying about a meeting and a contract. These things were all possibilities certainly, but not I was certain that that was the intent for the call to prayer. And I prayed like this for 5 minutes without regarding the clock. I felt so Spiritually-filled that I had to share. Sure enough, the pastors had been meeting with the seller of a property that the church wanted to buy. And I said, I wish that the church would continue to tweet those prayer opportunities. It was amazing to me. Of course, that never happened again.

I know, I should be doing it on my own. Certainly possible. I guess I’m just looking for someone to direct me appropriately. Guide me. Prompt me. Hold me accountable.

4.    Walter Wink writes, "History belongs to the intercessors … those who believe and pray the future into being." If Wink is right, what implications would this have on one of the following:

a.     Your personal commitment to pray – I need to add my prayers to the multitude or the lack thereof. If this is the future that the current prayer warriors are praying into existence, I cannot believe we are on the same side or that there are enough of us. What if most Christ-followers are like me and leaving it up to the masters? There aren’t enough of us. We must be more committed to changing our future direction.

b.    The power of a praying church – I don’t think my church would be in its current state of upheaval if we were a praying church. And I would go so far as to say there are probably prayer wars at work. The times we have tried to pray as a church have looked good in the planning, but the execution has been disappointing. And here I am criticizing, but I take just a much a part in the blame.

c.     What you teach your children about prayer, if you are a parent – Yes, what AM I teaching my children about prayer at all let alone as a powerful history maker/changer. I am a horrible mother.

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Luke 11:1 (ESV)