Confess
your faults one to another, and
pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much. (James 5:15 KJV)
Years ago, there was an ad in which a man and a woman were near a fountain. The man threw his arms wide and shouted several times, “I love this woman!”
In response, the woman stepped close and murmured, “I love this man. I love this man.” I have no idea what the ad was advertising, but I loved the ad, because even though I’ve never been in the situation, I am the woman.
Over the years, I’ve seen dramatic proposals: men getting down on one knee on a stage in front of thousands, men having their proposals posted on a Jumbotron in a crowded stadium, men arranging flash mobs with a videographer there to capture the moment. I have often commented to my friends that if a man proposed to me under those high pressure, public conditions, I would say “no” and break up with him because it’s a form of emotional extortion. If she doesn’t say “yes,” she’s a villain. Look how much he loves her! If he really loved me, he would ask me in private, not make my response part of his choreographed performance.
Today’s subject in Mr. Bounds’ book is fervency. Prayers need to be white hot. God hates lukewarm people and prayers. If you don’t raise your hands, sway (or even fling yourself) back and forth, if you haven’t crawled up nineteen flights of stairs on your hands and knees, if you don’t shake the rafters of the church with the sound of your voice…. OK, he doesn’t go quite that far, but the idea is there. For God to answer prayer, it’s got to be full of emotion – preferably desperation. Nothing else can matter as much as getting an answer to that prayer. If that’s not you, you need to pray that God will stoke the fires in your soul.
Here’s my problem. When I am praying, I am talking to God. My focus is on Him and on what I’m talking to Him about. It’s not on whether I’m raising or waving my hands, on whether I’m dancing (which would definitely require that I pay attention to what I am doing), or the volume of my voice. As I perceive it, my prayers are a laser beam that goes from my soul to God. All of those other things require the dampening of the laser beam in favor of mere fireworks. When I worship, my hands are at my sides, or even folded across my ribs. There are people who think I’m angry or that I’m not worshipping. Some people judge me. Curiously, some of those same people, when they get to know me, comment on how intense and serious I am.
Today’s passage says that effective, fervent prayers accomplish much. I want my prayers to accomplish much and it often seems to me that they don’t. I certainly don’t receive dramatic responses like Moses, Elijah, Elisha, or Daniel and his friends received. And so this is my prayer:
Not my will, but Thine be done, O Lord. If I must become a lunatic for You to be pleased with my prayers, then grant me lunacy.
Years ago, there was an ad in which a man and a woman were near a fountain. The man threw his arms wide and shouted several times, “I love this woman!”
In response, the woman stepped close and murmured, “I love this man. I love this man.” I have no idea what the ad was advertising, but I loved the ad, because even though I’ve never been in the situation, I am the woman.
Over the years, I’ve seen dramatic proposals: men getting down on one knee on a stage in front of thousands, men having their proposals posted on a Jumbotron in a crowded stadium, men arranging flash mobs with a videographer there to capture the moment. I have often commented to my friends that if a man proposed to me under those high pressure, public conditions, I would say “no” and break up with him because it’s a form of emotional extortion. If she doesn’t say “yes,” she’s a villain. Look how much he loves her! If he really loved me, he would ask me in private, not make my response part of his choreographed performance.
Today’s subject in Mr. Bounds’ book is fervency. Prayers need to be white hot. God hates lukewarm people and prayers. If you don’t raise your hands, sway (or even fling yourself) back and forth, if you haven’t crawled up nineteen flights of stairs on your hands and knees, if you don’t shake the rafters of the church with the sound of your voice…. OK, he doesn’t go quite that far, but the idea is there. For God to answer prayer, it’s got to be full of emotion – preferably desperation. Nothing else can matter as much as getting an answer to that prayer. If that’s not you, you need to pray that God will stoke the fires in your soul.
Here’s my problem. When I am praying, I am talking to God. My focus is on Him and on what I’m talking to Him about. It’s not on whether I’m raising or waving my hands, on whether I’m dancing (which would definitely require that I pay attention to what I am doing), or the volume of my voice. As I perceive it, my prayers are a laser beam that goes from my soul to God. All of those other things require the dampening of the laser beam in favor of mere fireworks. When I worship, my hands are at my sides, or even folded across my ribs. There are people who think I’m angry or that I’m not worshipping. Some people judge me. Curiously, some of those same people, when they get to know me, comment on how intense and serious I am.
Today’s passage says that effective, fervent prayers accomplish much. I want my prayers to accomplish much and it often seems to me that they don’t. I certainly don’t receive dramatic responses like Moses, Elijah, Elisha, or Daniel and his friends received. And so this is my prayer:
Not my will, but Thine be done, O Lord. If I must become a lunatic for You to be pleased with my prayers, then grant me lunacy.
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