Good morning
Recall the verse in the Gospels where the disciples asked Jesus,”Lord, teach us to preach.” I hope you can’t, because that verse does not exist. Certainly there are many conversations that the disciples had with Jesus that are not recorded in Scripture, but one request that is recorded is as follows:
“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ [Luke 11:1]
Some consider the concept of prayer to be the mystery of mysteries. It is the finite human requesting something (and sometimes even listening to) he infinite, all-knowing, Creator of the Universe. And recalling something that I recently read–“When you pray, you have God’s undivided attention.” Do I understand how the Father can give undivided attention to a million simultaneous prayers in thousands of languages? I do not. Do I have faith that God can do this? Absolutely.
If man tried to catalog all of the prayers for a certain day, it would take AI and the fastest computers a thousand years to do so. But man-time is not the same as God-time:
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends; With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” [II Peter 3:8]
My point is that we should not allow any incomplete understanding of how prayer works to dissuade us from praying. Recalling a verse from last week:
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. [Matthew 6:6]
“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray….” [James 5:13a,b]
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” [James 5:16]
So to you prayer warriors out there I say, keep up the good work. As for the rest of us, perhaps we should pray for help to become prayer warriors. Which I know would be pleasing to God.
Blessings,
Keith