Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual
and the community must enter every day.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
and the community must enter every day.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Before You Ask
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)
Many people think their prayers won’t work if they don’t utter them clearly enough, or fail to explain to God exactly what they mean, or don’t speak loudly enough to him with sufficient earnestness. But when this happens, prayer becomes so exaggerated that our Savior even forbids it.
Obviously Jesus does not want to discourage us from praying. His point is that when we pray we must have a sense of proportion. Once we have prayed, we must be quiet. We need to be like the farmer who has sown his seed. Help will come only when you are quiet in faith. Also in your sickness or with other needs, learn to be still and look to the Kingdom of God.
We can share our needs with the Father in a few words, without making a fuss, and rest assured that God already knows what we need and what he will do to help us. We don’t have to explain our requests in great detail to God, or try and make quite sure that he knows our needs. God knows about even the smallest matters and takes them straight into his heart. We can turn to him by glancing Heavenward, with no words at all. We can do this even when we pray about something concrete and tangible, or about something that specifically troubles us. We may realize that what we thought we needed is actually not necessary and that we can find a way right in the midst of how things are now.
This doesn’t mean that we just let things happen – as if everything will come of its own accord without our longing for it. Nor should we just cast a brief and hurried request at God’s feet. When this happens, we too easily lose sight of God, assume that everything comes to us without his help, and we forget to thank him. Then we cease to have a believing heart and are consequently not true children of God.
Jesus said, “Before you ask him.” Therefore we do need to make our requests known to him, otherwise many things will not be given that could have been given. It never displeases God when we come to him with our heartfelt requests. A real child asks for everything, knowing God has an ear for him. We should bring all our burdens and needs to him, for at the very least this helps to make us ever more aware that in all things God is the giver.
God always has our interest in mind. He carries our various needs with fatherly concern, eagerly waiting for us to come to him. He has not forgotten us. And when we feel tempted to think so, then all the more we should remember that he knows it all and cares for us. In fact, he knows much more about us and our needs than we do. Simple, childlike prayer is enough to move his heart, give you something out of the fullness of his compassion, and save you from all sorts of fear and trouble.
(Johann Christoph Blumhardt)
(The God Who Heals, Words of Hope for a Time of Sickness)
Request a prayer and pray for others
To request a prayer, click on the blue button below that reads, Share Your Prayer Request.
To pray for others, look below the form to see what prayers have been requested.
Julia
Lenten Contrition from The Exeter Book
Give me, O Lord, patience and sense of purpose in each of the things which you send to beset me. You know the many wicked deeds which burden my heart. But out of compassion you set aside all blame, and receive me as your own. Please protect me through the dangers and confusion of my transient life on Earth, ensuring that in all things I strive for eternal life in Heaven. I know that I am very slow to make amends for my sins, despite the many favors you grant me. Fix my trust, my timid hopes, upon yourself, so that I may stand on a secure foundation. Lift up my thoughts with your wisdom. Take me out of this world as soon as I am fit to be received into the next.
Stand by me, Lord, and hold me upright when the gales of sin blow round me. And when the dark stormy night of wickedness closes in on me, guide my steps. My soul is already battered by the temptations to which I have submitted. My spirit is crushed by the weight of past misdeeds. My mind is stained by the memory of the evil in which I have participated. Throughout my life you have been unfailingly generous to me, although I have deserved only punishment.
The trees around me flourish and spread their branches. But I am hemmed in by the guilt which surrounds me, and I wither because of the poison of sin within me. Ah Lord, you are the only remedy, I accept that while I remain on Earth I must endure hardship, and must be spiritually destitute. I may enjoy the affection of friends, and the hospitality of strangers, but these are only brief flashes of light in the darkness. Let my suffering bring me true contrition, that I may receive your forgiveness, and so be made fit for the everlasting joy of Heaven. Amen.