As we talked yesterday afternoon, we talked about how we pray when we are together as a church. He pointed out, correctly, that the majority of our prayers are for people within our congregation and some health issues that they have. We agreed that it is right that we should do this. This is our church family and we should be praying for one another.
But, all those people have access to excellent doctors and post-surgery care.
The people in Mozul do not.
That's the background to my thoughts. Now, here is my uncomfortable conclusion to this.Is it possible that we Christian people have fallen into the position where we only pray for something where we are confident God will answer that prayer through professional people? For example, do we only pray for people who are ill when we know they will be seeing a well trained and very experienced doctor? Do we only pray for people to find work when we know they are still have the safety net of Centrelink payments here in Australia?
If so, what does that say about our praying? What does that say about the God to whom we are praying? If God is the God of the impossible, as the Scriptures declare him to be, is that what is reflected in the way we pray?
I don't write this to condemn people who pray for those in the church who are ill. As I said earlier, this is something we surely should be doing.
But when do you pray for the impossible?
"Thou art coming to a king,
Great petitions with thee bring"
