Actually, this is much prettier than my real problems. This was an illustration from a sermon I preached for a Johnson City District United Methodist Women gathering last month. I had several of these "problems" that I laid on the rail of the alter at the end of the sermon, trying to make a visual connection with what laying our troubles before the Lord looks like, compared to just laying them there while we were at church and then picking them up again when we left.
Last night Heather and I were talking about prayer. Well, we were talking about death. Another friend from our home church where she grew up, and the first United Methodist Church that I had ever attended, passed away last night from cancer. Death and prayer are often closely related topics. Heather had mentioned that I am always saying to pray about a problem, then leave it there at the alter. But there are times in Scripture when we are told to not stop praying, and she prays daily for her own dad, who is with the healing power of Jesus, battling cancer in his life.
Here is what I think about this. I am not a renowned theologian, just a man seeking to better know Jesus daily and to live this crazy life with some sort of purpose and passion while showing love to as many people as I can. Maybe you have different thoughts, and if so please share them with me. We are in this together.
So here goes....
Jesus tells a parable found in Luke 18:1-8 that we call the "parable of the persistent widow". The story is about a widow who went to a judge to get the justice she deserved in a certain legal matter. The judge really didn't care about the woman or her needs that much, but she didn't give up. She went back day after day after day after day and brought her request to the judge. Finally the judge agrees to give her what she wants. Then Jesus says that if that uncaring judge gave the persistent woman what she wanted then "will not God give justice to his elect, who cry out to him day and night?" Here is what is really interesting about this. Jesus opens the parable by stating this is an example that we should "always pray and never give up" (18:1), and ends by asking, presumably based on this persistent, faithful, and expectant model of prayer, "When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on earth?" (18:8).
Jesus tells another parable of a persistent friend that is found in Luke 11:5-13, which also ends with an equation that we serve a Good Father who will take care of His children and takes pleasure in giving them what they need ("need" is a key word here, not want, and not anything and everything).
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (11:9-10)
There is obviously something here as Jesus was teaching us to pray with faith and to pray with persistence. To not give up and to not stop praying.
Jesus also said, as recorded in Matthew 6:11 "give us this day our daily bread". So there is an indication this prayer is as daily as the need for eating is daily. Jesus modeled this frequently with his disciples by getting away by himself to pray.
And there is one of my favorite verses, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "pray continually".
So how does this tie in with leaving your prayers at the alter? Well, I would say you leave the problems and worries that you are praying about at the alter. Leave the feelings of anxiety, stress, uncertainty, and fear at the alter. And then keep praying about the situation. But pray with the faith of one who is asking his or her Father for a gift. Pray expecting something to happen.
"But when he asks (for something in prayer), he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" (James 1:6).
And keep praying, and don't give up. And if perhaps the answer to the prayer is "no", then talk to your Father about that. What is He wanting to do in your life that is different and better than what you had asked for. I think is what the apostle Paul was referring to in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul refers to a "thorn" that he has been dealing with, but never specifically says what it was. And Paul prayed about it. In fact he said, "three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me", but God didn't do that. I don't think Paul gave up after three times praying about, that isn't consistent with what Jesus taught us about prayer. But I think Paul got his answer, and in his case the answer was "no", so Paul went on knowing that God had a bigger plan and purpose in place than perhaps he could see at the time.
God's dream and purpose for you is beyond the confusion of today.
So don't stop praying. Pray continually. Pray in God's will. Pray for His will to be done and that you are in line with that. Pray expecting something to happen. Pray and give thanks for what God will do that you just haven't seen yet. Pray thanking God for what He is doing now that you just aren't seeing right now. Prayer is good. Prayer is our life source to our Life Source. Stay connected.
But leave the other stuff at the alter. The stuff that is weighing you down and causing you to forget who (and whose) you are. Leave those hangups and problems at the alter. Lay 'em down, and walk away. That is baggage you don't need, and were not intended, to carry along in life.
So for me, that's the difference between pragmatic problems and persistent prayer. What do you think?
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