Wholeness: Prayer

I dare say prayer is one of the most written about subjects in all of Christian education. Yet it is likely one of the most neglected concepts in all of Christianity as well. I’m hardly the first to point this out either. While I won’t be summarizing the entirety of this important concept here, there are a few points I would like to add to the discussion to hopefully help with said neglect. As well as how it pertains to our wholeness.

Many teachers tell you to pray specifically. While there is nothing wrong with this, keep in mind there is nothing wrong with not being very specific either when we just can’t put our finger on the issue. Hence this verse.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. -Romans 8:26

Those same teachers often tell you to expect specifically as well. In their mind, this is an act of faith, but then again maybe it’s just arrogant. What I have learned, is to expect anything and everything. We can only pray based off of what we know after all. Which is very limited compared to God. Why presume to know better than God or how he will respond? While we may pray for what we want, God will always answer according to our needs. Again if we lack wholeness, our wants will likely be less than mature. So the answer may actually address our brokenness behind the want more than the actual longings. Sometimes what we need is the rest of the story in a given situation. If we are imposing tunnel vision on our expectations, we can very easily miss God’s actual answer.

James also talks about praying with wrong motives. (4:3) For example, we may pray for an abundant harvest for our church. While that may sound noble on the surface. Yet, if we only ask so that we may feed off the harvest without actually tending to the crop, our motives are more selfish than selfless. If you are going to pray for something, be prepared to get involved and be part of the solution. A whole person and devout disciple wouldn’t object to this. Like when Nehemiah prayed for the restoration of Jerusalem, the answer came in the form of an opportunity. An opportunity that Nehemiah had an active hand in. 

It's not much different when we pray for our wholeness. Yet when we actually pray about our shortcomings, do we do so in hopes that the issue would just go away so we don’t have to face them. This isn’t necessarily realistic. While deliverance is sometimes an option, but not if it's going to leave an open wound in our spirit. Like I said in an earlier post, the woman at the well had to face herself, and her choices. Even Peter had to face his denial. (John 21:15-25) What issues are you trying to avoid via prayer?

It’s been said, prayer often changes the individual more than the situation. Now you should have a better idea of why that is. So I repeat, when you pray, keep your spiritual eyes open to all possibilities. Anything is possible when it comes to an all-knowing God after all. Your wholeness will surely benefit if you do. Which means your holiness depends on it as well. Which is of immense importance to God. So your spiritual ears will be the most open when we value all three dimensions of holiness as well.

The Visual PARABLEist