Wow, was it hot out, so today I camped out in the shade. I was still on the same corner, but off a little to the side under a tree. Now, a question that I've been reflecting on since DAY 1 has been: What does it mean to offer a service of prayer to the community? I am continually revisiting this question as I stand on the street. If, my focus is truly for the people of the community, than I need to be continually positioning my heart towards them in humility. Again, I'm not out here to accomplish some sort of agenda, but solely out here to bless the people of the community with prayer: to go before our Father in Heaven on their behalf with the burdens and desires of their hearts.
Over the years, the LORD has taken me on a journey of prayer. I can still remember the first years of my salvation and my fear (almost immobilizing at times) of praying aloud in front of people. You see, I was also deathly afraid of public speaking and praying aloud meant doing both. During this season, most of my fears centered on the style and elegance of my prayers. I was so afraid of stumbling over my words or worse yet I'd forget what exactly I was praying, lose my train of thought and then there'd be this long awkward silence. So, oftentimes I would practice what I was going to say in my head a few times before I prayed just to make sure I had it down. Sound familiar? I hope so because I'd hate think I'm no only one, but I have a feeling this is a pretty common. I was stuck projecting an image to God of how I thought I needed to be, rather than simply pursuing intimacy with God and being real with Him. But, prayer during this season was more about me praying than about connecting with God.
Fast forward a few years and now I'm in Seminary studying to be a pastor/missionary and I remember being even more terrified of public prayer. You see, going to a Christian university means praying before class. Usually the professor prays but there are those who will choose students to pray instead. Let me tell you, boy did I get nervous in those first few moments before class when I would see the professor surveying the students. But, this time most of my fear came from not wanting to say the "wrong" thing meaning I was afraid that my fellow students were going to critique my prayers to make sure they were theologically sound which was actually a pretty common fear among the students that I actually talked with about this. Needless to say, I've always felt so much pressure when it comes to prayer. Now here I am praying on a street corner for strangers. Who'd a guessed? Only God.
Fast forward a few years and now I'm in Seminary studying to be a pastor/missionary and I remember being even more terrified of public prayer. You see, going to a Christian university means praying before class. Usually the professor prays but there are those who will choose students to pray instead. Let me tell you, boy did I get nervous in those first few moments before class when I would see the professor surveying the students. But, this time most of my fear came from not wanting to say the "wrong" thing meaning I was afraid that my fellow students were going to critique my prayers to make sure they were theologically sound which was actually a pretty common fear among the students that I actually talked with about this. Needless to say, I've always felt so much pressure when it comes to prayer. Now here I am praying on a street corner for strangers. Who'd a guessed? Only God.
Sure, there's a lot more to this journey of prayer that the LORD has taken me on, but at the heart of it has always been the reality that God loves talking with me (and you) and shame on those who would critique and judge our prayers because there really is no wrong way to pray. Now for those of you who would say otherwise, I encourage you to read through Psalm 88 and get back to me. You see, I believe God's heart is bigger than anything that we can throw at Him. When I look back on my prayer life, I see a journey of grace, love and transformation. Living this side of Heaven means that we will go through different seasons of faith and life, but we should never feel like we can't go to our Father in Heaven with the hurts and burdens of our hearts. No matter how angry, hurt, bitter, jealous, even volatile we may feel and be at the time, we need to trust that God is bigger and can handle it. God would much rather that we be real with Him and pursue intimacy with Him, than be shallow and superficial with Him by projecting some image to Him of how we think we should be.
The devil would also love to stop us from praying to God, even discourage us by getting us believing that there is a set way or form when it comes to prayer, which indirectly implies that there is a wrong way to pray. The devil knows that if he can drive a wedge between us and God, then he can rob us from experiencing God's love, protection, favor, blessing and provisions. So, I'll put the question out there again: Is there a wrong way to pray? I'm hoping you're catching my heart on this. God meets us right where we're at and He loves us unconditionally. Just recently, I was asked a question from a fellow believer who put her faith on hold for awhile. She asked me, "Gerry, do you think that God's mad at me for not praying and talking to Him for so long?" I told her, "No, God never holds any resentment towards us, He loves us unconditionally and is simply delighted and overjoyed every time that we choose to pray and talk with Him." God loves being in relationship with us and waits patiently for us to begin pursuing Him just as passionately as He is continually pursuing us.
So, back to the question: What does it mean to offer a service of prayer to the community? I believe it means praying for people's spoken and unspoken needs. I fully understand that stepping out in prayer can be scary at times and I'm not here to judge or critique their prayer requests, I'm only here to stand with them in order to ask our Father in Heaven to draw near to them (sometimes for the very first time) through prayer. Today, I was honored to be able to do that for Paloma, Jim and Kiomi. I know from personal experience that God is able and the longer I lean into Jesus for strength and security, the more confident I've become in prayer. And I pray that God would impart to every person I am privileged to pray with the grace, confidence and understanding that He has given me to them when it comes to prayer. So this is my prayer: Faither God, pour out your grace on people and empower them to draw near to you. Set them free from fear, shame and guilt and release more love, life and redemption into their lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.
The devil would also love to stop us from praying to God, even discourage us by getting us believing that there is a set way or form when it comes to prayer, which indirectly implies that there is a wrong way to pray. The devil knows that if he can drive a wedge between us and God, then he can rob us from experiencing God's love, protection, favor, blessing and provisions. So, I'll put the question out there again: Is there a wrong way to pray? I'm hoping you're catching my heart on this. God meets us right where we're at and He loves us unconditionally. Just recently, I was asked a question from a fellow believer who put her faith on hold for awhile. She asked me, "Gerry, do you think that God's mad at me for not praying and talking to Him for so long?" I told her, "No, God never holds any resentment towards us, He loves us unconditionally and is simply delighted and overjoyed every time that we choose to pray and talk with Him." God loves being in relationship with us and waits patiently for us to begin pursuing Him just as passionately as He is continually pursuing us.
So, back to the question: What does it mean to offer a service of prayer to the community? I believe it means praying for people's spoken and unspoken needs. I fully understand that stepping out in prayer can be scary at times and I'm not here to judge or critique their prayer requests, I'm only here to stand with them in order to ask our Father in Heaven to draw near to them (sometimes for the very first time) through prayer. Today, I was honored to be able to do that for Paloma, Jim and Kiomi. I know from personal experience that God is able and the longer I lean into Jesus for strength and security, the more confident I've become in prayer. And I pray that God would impart to every person I am privileged to pray with the grace, confidence and understanding that He has given me to them when it comes to prayer. So this is my prayer: Faither God, pour out your grace on people and empower them to draw near to you. Set them free from fear, shame and guilt and release more love, life and redemption into their lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.
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