“Oh and, if you could remember, please also pray for my family.” A friend asked me after driving me back from dinner. Her tone sounded a bit refrained to share this as her second prayer request.
At that very moment, my heart ached a bit.
Not because I felt that she did not trust me. But instead, I know it too well on how many times I did not uphold my prayer promises. And also by her concerning tone when she was just sharing ONE more prayer request.
This shouldn’t be the case. This really shouldn’t be the case.
Prayer per se is not an easy thing to learn, and prayer and intercession may be even more tricky. There is no standard on how much or how long I should pray so as to be “faithful” to keep up my prayer promises. “Lord, please bless and comfort XXX, because he/she had a hard time. Amen” is a prayer. But it does not sound like a very heartfelt one.
My prayer life is still so immature, but when I really put effort in trying to pray with my heart for / with someone I care, I could feel the difference. Generally I am not good at understanding or feeling the way people would feel, but in those prayer times (which I hope would happen way more often than now), the joy and the sorrow of the person became so real in my heart, that the joy they experienced in growth would make me rejoice, the sorrow amidst their trials and struggles brings sorrow and even a bit pain. Although for now this happens only occasionally when I pray for a few people who are really precious and important to me, and whom I truly care from my heart.
Other acts of service and love are something undoubtedly important that we should keep up, but I really believe prayer is a very unique way for a relationship to lift up burdens and to watch for one another’s back. That it would even enable a person like me to feel deeply about others’ feelings. Because by coming together before the throne of grace, this act directly invites God to intervene in the things people contending for. Because it contains something special when his children come together to cry out to him.
I am more and more fond of praying together. I really feel like it forms a very special prayer altar, that both this and individual prayer are irreplaceable to each other. Both are essential.
Recently a friend told me a possible breakthrough on her contend for family salvation, and I promised to pray together with her. The first two nights passed, after a long day of writing my prospectus, I sneakily allowed this promise to slip away from my mind, even though I was working in her common room and had the chance to pray together. Because I felt tired. Coming to the third night, I was still tired, but I felt bad to keep postponing to pray for something important.
We agreed to make it short, because both of us were tired. Turning off the light in her room, we started to pray. The longer we prayed, the more urgent I felt in my heart, to a point that I couldn’t contain myself with normal volume but knelt down and prayed almost like shouting. My voice got hoarse in the middle, and I was panting. After who knows how long, we eventually calmed down and ended the prayer.
“It was intense.” I said after she switched on the light back. “Yes, it WAS intense. Hey I think you carry the anointing, and the presence just came with you. I didn’t feel the presence so strongly when I was praying alone!” She told me. But to me, it was because Jesus was faithful to uphold his promise, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:19-20) He was among us.
The friend I mentioned in the beginning, she sent me a prayer request when I was in Taiwan, about something God put in her heart to contend for. This really surprised me. It became our tradition to meet and pray roughly every other week since this summer. Therefore we have some brief idea of what each of us is going through in spiritual walk. But she seldom shared prayer requests outside our prayer time. Last year she even asked me in curiosity, “I want to know why you would share prayer requests. I used to think it is enough to pray on my own, even though I would also pray for people. But I just don’t know why and how to share my prayer request.”
This time was my turn to feel curious about her change. “Because I knew you would pray with all of your heart. I then knew I am not fighting alone.” Her response struck my heart.
This shouldn’t be the case that I always forget to uphold my prayer promises. This shouldn’t be the case that my friend would feel refrained to share her second prayer request. Because prayer for each other is something delights Him. Because prayer promise is like a commitment to form an altar before him and to run after him together. Because being able to lift up burdens in prayers is an honour I don’t deserve. Because having trustworthy prayer companions to build the altar is a treasure I ought to cherish.
No comments:
Post a Comment