Prayer

Last Sunday when we were being reminded by the Apostle Paul about the first concerns of the church, we noted that the first thing he urged upon the church was prayer. That, of course, should have surprised no one. The whole point of Christ’s coming to earth was to make it possible for us to once again have a relationship with our heavenly Father, and there is no point in having a relationship with someone if we don’t talk. So prayer is the natural, albeit supernatural, expression of our relationship with God.

Having said that, it is important that we occasionally re-examine the level of communication we maintain with our Creator because it’s easy to get so comfortable with prayer that we settle for something less than it can be. I was reminded of that during my class following Sunday’s sermon.

LouAnn Kunzeman shared something with the class that she and Carolyn Brown enjoy on a weekly basis. They meet with a large group of Christian women from a variety of denominal backgrounds for a time of directed prayer. They have both found it to be a wonderful addition to their prayer life, and LouAnn expressed a desire to have such a prayer group in our church. I invited her to present her ideas to the elders at our next meeting, so you may be hearing about a new opportunity to regularly gather for prayer in the near future.

Another aspect of Paul’s admonition to prayer that we may need to give additional thought to is his call for us to pray for the king and all in authority. In the message I mentioned that we ought to be praying for our president, and the struggles he faces and the personal needs he may have. I also suggested that we should carry his unspoken petitions before the throne of God, and put into prayer the frustrations and doubts he tweets about.

Obviously President Trump is not King David, but while reading in the Psalms last week I came across something David wrote that could have been written by Trump. “My enemies speak evil against me, ‘When will he die, and his name perish?’ And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood; his heart gathers wickedness to itself; when he goes outside, he tells it. All who hate me whisper together against me; against me they devise my hurt.” (Psalm 41:5-7)

The king of Israel’s prayer life was no doubt better than our president’s, so if we would lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity, we must be praying on his behalf.

God Bless, Rick