This season leading up to Pentecost has been rich with anticipation of the holy spirit coming down as fire. At B&W we’ve had visual reminders of the spirit raining on us with colorful spinners dancing around. Prayer has been a big focus, with prayer meetings during the week and 24 hours of prayer on the weekend.
In the middle of all that, I met a pastoring couple in Port Richmond. They shared with me some of the miracles that they have prayed for – biblical tales of healing the deaf, mute, and lame, and conquering tumors, infection, cancer, asthma, and even death.
Hmmm… Is this all for real? That’s what I thought as I smiled and nodded at these people. Do I believe that this healing, this complete transformation, has happened because of prayer?
And I knew that if I didn’t believe it, I had lost all hope. I did believe that they experienced this healing, but I doubted that I could experience the same kind of thing. But then I thought, Why CAN’T I experience it.? I believe the healing stories in the Bible. Why not believe and accept and even EXPECT the same for myself and my world?
I decided that I need to change how I pray. I need to pray expecting things to change. I give God a lot of room to do things the way he has planned it. I’m not one for trying to convince anyone of anything, let alone telling God what I think he should do. So my prayers are often along the lines of… Dear God, here’s what I think I want, but you know best. Not real clear requests. What’s he supposed to do with that??
I asked the couple in Port Richmond when they pray. “Always and everywhere,” was the answer. Neighbors come into the church for prayer all day. People call for prayer in the middle of the night. When they are not with the people they are praying for, they still pray about their mission, their needs, their neighbors.
Do you get tired of what you’re doing? I asked. “Never, because God called us and He never gets tired. We need to follow him. We need to love like him to save people.” The constant connection to God through prayer gives them the energy to do the amazing work they’re doing in their community.
Their bold demands and simple expectations for healing and for meeting basic needs were such a good example for me about the power that I have access to through prayer. They showed me I shouldn’t be shy about praying—why not just put it all out there and ask for what I want?
I mulled over this info while I was in the prayer room on Sunday. I focused on claiming the hope that I have in Jesus and asking for things like getting the 12 for the next 100 team going to help us meet new folks, resolving building issues, conquering cancer, repairing broken hearts, renewing the basic love of God. It was a fresh start.
I shared my thoughts about this bold way of praying with my cell when we were talking about disciplines for staying connected to God. We all got pretty excited about it. We are going to do this together and see what changes happen. I’m using the goals from the map as a good starting place for what to pray about. I believe God’s going to honor us as we pray like we mean it, like we believe he is all powerful, like we know that the Holy Spirit will share her fire with us.