by Parker J. Cole
A prayer for everything.
Last night, while on the phone chitchatting, my girlfriend and I talked about a situation she had asked prayer about. God had answered her prayer and showed signs of that by couple of conversations. She’d called a mutual friend of ours to discuss the situation. Our mutual friend, who for certain has the hand of God upon her had rebuked her in sisterly condemnation for not listening to her about the situation a year ago. Yet, with love, everything was soothed away.
Listening to this retelling, I said, “You had a Gideon prayer. You needed reassurance in certain ways because your obedience to God’s will needed that type of answer.”
When I thought about it, I recognized many of the prayers spoken by the small and great of the Bible are different. Some are long and reverent, full of supplication. Others of confession of sins and misdeeds. More of forgiveness and repentance. And still others for rescue or destruction.
As I thought about it, I went online and looked up how many prayers were in the Bible. I came across this list. Browsing through the list, the helpful list detailed what prayers were answered and why. What prayers were unanswered, along with their reasons. Also, prayers that don’t record any solution.
I thought back to Gideon. Why would we need to know about the prayer of Gideon? He already had seen the angel of the Lord and had spoken to him. He’d already knew the Lord had called him. He already knew God had plans for him–big plans. So, why did Gideon still pray twice more for a sign? Is it because of unbelief or unrighteousness? Was it because Gideon doubted the Lord’s provision?
Was it wrong for Gideon to ask and pray for these many signs?
I am not a scholar or a minister. I wasn’t called to preach (thank you, Lord!). So, I am open to correction if I have this wrong but the more I simmered on this, I realized that the magnitude of what the Lord was asking of Gideon, coupled with his own self-doubts of his effectiveness, not to mention the potential loss of life glaring at him from a formidable enemy, he needed reassurance on several levels.
If it was wrong to ask for the reassurance, I think the Lord would have rebuked him. There are instances in the Bible where the Lord does that with others.
I remember when the prayer of Jabez book made its rounds among the church. Songs about it, people praying for an increase in their lives, all of that. Nothing wrong with wanting more, but there’s more to praying than asking for prosperity or material wealth. In the list noted above, Jabez’s prayer was answered because of God’s promises to Israel, not just to Jabez.
Sometimes we have to kneel in prayer and confess our sins. King David did that with admirable skill. He knew who he had sinned against.
Some prayers are spoken with haste and expediency. When Peter took his eyes off Christ, when he commanded him to walk on water, and started drowning, Peter didn’t have time to get reverential. He hollered, “Lord, save me!”
Some prayers were about remembrance of what God had done before. I can’t remember who said this, but I recall hearing that the term atheist didn’t mean one who didn’t believe in God. The biblical terms for an atheist was one who forgot what God had done for them. This I find is significant because we as people forget. God answers our prayer, and then we forget He had. We’re easily demystified by His provision after the fact. Many times in the Bible, it speaks of remembrance.
Healing prayers are ones close to our heart. I think of my brothers and sisters in Christ who deal with chronic pain and illness. They pray for healing and alleviation of pain. Sometimes the Lord says, as he did to Paul, my grace is sufficient. I think of others who pray for healing, and they receive it.
In our church, we had a man who was dying get miraculously healed nearly a month ago. I am so pleased that God allowed us to see His work on earth. Perhaps I had forgotten that God works in the supernatural, and this man’s healing gave me that renewed sense of awe of the power our Lord has.
Prayer as a weapon is the one I am coming to understand more. Coupled with praise and worship, you have an arsenal against the fiery darts of Satan and his minions who only mission is to destroy you by any means necessary. We get tired and take a break, a nap. Satan and his minions don’t have to do that. They don’t ease up. They don’t stop in their work. They will work overtime.
My mother says, “The devil is always busy.”
Prayer as a weapon in the reality of spiritual warfare becomes even more important.
I believe put these prayers in the word to show us that in EVERYTHING we need to pray. He wants us to talk to Him. I talk to my family all the time. Relationships build because of that communication. When we give our concerns, our fears, our transgressions and sins, our praise, our past, our present, our future, to the Lord in prayer, what would the intimacy of that relationship look like?
I encourage you to look at the list I shared above and go through the Bible for yourself that so that you can see there really is a prayer for everything.
About the Author:
Parker J. Cole is a writer and radio show host who spends most of her time reading, knitting, writing, cooking, and concocting new ideas for stories. Her first novel, Dark Cherub, won Best of Spring Reading 2013 from eMediaCampaigns. She lives in Michigan with her husband and beloved dog Sarah.
Visit her site at http://www.ParkerJCole.com