As I start this missive I am reminded of the many times in my life where the prayers of others have made life and death interruptions in my own life and the lives of others.

  Formal prayer has never been a strong point in my Faith Walk, of course I would never have realized this significant lack in my life if not for The Holy Spirit convicting and convincing me of its importance.

  My problem, and I doubt I am alone in this, is that I run dry within five minutes when I try to pray. I have to imagine how this affects my Lord and King, when He asked those that had rubbed shoulders with Him and couldn’t wait with Him for even one hour. Ouch!

  While I was reading some verses on Prayer I came upon Romans 8:26; “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” I had previously written about not having “skin in the game” when praying and that when we don’t have “skin in the game” our prayers can become perfunctory and rote, lacking the earnestness that Scripture often associates with effective prayer.

  Then I was led to look down two verses to a scripture we often chant as a mantra, Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Usually with a bit of disbelief, at least, I do.

  Then the thought occurred to me, ‘what if Romans 8:28 was a bi-conditional promise that hinged on Romans 8:26? What then? What would be the implication?

  I am not suggesting this is what Paul intended, only wondering whether there is a deeper connection between Spirit-led intercession and our confidence that God works all things together for good.

  Then I thought of the Ladies Prayer group way back when I was on Guam. ‘We’ had some real prayer warriors. One day a heavy burden came upon them for one of the ladies ex-husband who was a pilot for a small Island Hopper service and he was in a world of hurt. He was ferrying a small four engine aircraft to Guam and Murphy reigned completely, everything that could go wrong did. They were losing fuel and lost in the North Pacific. The ladies prayed. A Coast Guard watch stander, I believe in Washington state, who was monitoring air traffic out over the North Pacific also felt a heavy burden for this aircraft. So much so he imposed on the watch commander that the plane was in trouble and needed help. They had received no distress call, I don’t even think Rusty, the pilot, knew the dire straits he was in. After persistent entreating, the Watch Commander relented and sent a Long Range C-130 out to check it out. They were dropping flares to guide Rusty in for ditching and dropped an inflatable as the plane settled in the waves. Had they not been there when they were, the crew would have died of exposure. God responds to prayer.

  In my humble opinion, prayer is one of the means by which God exercises His sovereign will upon the earth. He calls us to ask, and He delights to answer the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous.

  I am ashamed to say, I am so far below that standard of prayer and supplication.

The I remembered the early days of Rock Church Virginia Beach, VA when you could walk into the foyer and sense The Holy Spirit hovering so heavy it felt like you had to cut through it with a knife to get into the sanctuary.

  I have to wonder if this was a part of what Paul was thinking when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, “But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.”

  This is not talking about people speaking in the Office of a Prophet, but the manifestation of The Holy Spirit in a believer speaking God’s Inspired Words. Honestly, I am not even sure Paul was delineating the ‘Gift’ of prophesy here, but more of the natural interaction of The Holy Spirit’s Ministry in a body of absolutely sold-out believers.

 

  Final word, I have found, and know this, I am still ‘thawing out’ after years of feeling rejected and alone. Honestly, I didn’t want any more Words from The Lord because people didn’t like what I had to say, not that it wasn’t good, but because I had never learned how to share such ‘words’ with the softness, grace, and mercy of the Pastor I always wanted to be.

 

  By the way: Rusty and Diane did remarry, for the nTh time, after yet another miracle in our tiny church on Guam, but that’s another story for another time.

chatGPT provides a sounding board for my new articles and an "Iron Sharpens Iron" oversight and conversation.
I will also be allowing chatGPT to review some of my older works which tend toward a prophet/prosecutor attitude which defeats the ability to convince people, when they are wincing.