Confession: I tend to cringe during the prayer times of small groups. Why? In my experience, the prayer requests almost totally relate to health issues—and are detailed, unedited reports. Example: “My neighbor’s gardener’s uncle is in the hospital. He went last Tuesday. He’d hurt himself while repairing their garage. He didn’t know it was so bad. Then he started bleeding while he was watching a Law and Order rerun. Or maybe it was Star Trek. Anyway, the doctor had never seen anything like it. When the nurse put on bandages, they came right off. Blood everywhere. Can you imagine? He had a 103-degree fever too. I don’t know if they checked his cholesterol. He hasn’t eaten much. Of course, hospital food is terrible…”
These “boils and bunions” prayer sessions (not my term) don’t leave much time for actual prayer. And what seems most significant, it’s rarely mentioned whether the sufferer does/doesn’t know the Lord. It’s all about the physical. (Yes, I’ve been guilty too.)
Here’s an idea for starting your group’s next prayer time. (If you’re not the leader, this is a hostile takeover—ha!) Say something like: “Before the physical needs are named, let’s get this SPIRITUAL need on the list. A missionary I know in [name of country] is under severe persecution [or has unbearable responsibilities or ]. So let’s pray that…”
And for health-related prayers, how about encouraging the group to state the health concern in two sentences? The actual prayer will ask for healing, of course. But what if we also make sure to disclose whether or not the sufferer is a Christian. If the sufferer is a Christian, then say, “Oh good. Let’s pray he will use this unfortunate time to be a good witness for the Lord.” If the sufferer is not a Christian, say, “And let’s pray that this unfortunate time will draw him toward the Lord and that [the friend/relative who made the request] can be used by the Lord toward that end.” Then steer the prayer that way.
Yes, sometimes concerns other than health are mentioned. Like, wanting prayer that Trey’s flight lands on time, that it doesn’t snow for JT’s soccer game, that Moira passes her algebra test… Truth be told, aren’t many of our prayers more like superficial wishes? So how about tweaking those requests a bit too, to include a more important/spiritual focus?
If we’re not used to a spiritual focus, we might have to practice by stopping ourselves mid-prayer, as the title of this post indicates. Like: “Lord, please help Caleb make the college football team… [oops!] Lord, of course I want Caleb to make the team and be able to learn from their great coach, so I ask you to be with him during tryouts. But I also realize that his main task is to represent you well, no matter. Help him understand that and do that!”
A woman I know who is 90+ is thankful to have access to a no-cost senior citizens fitness program. She has her own health issues. But when she reported to Christian friends, she condensed her health news and emphasized her gratitude for the chance to share the gospel with the 50 people she meets at the fitness center. Here’s a quite elderly woman who continues to see herself as a soldier on the Lord’s battlefield! She’s focused on what’s really important: the spiritual needs of those around her.
I’ve already confessed that I’ve been guilty of less-than-best prayer requests. Just saying.
