Category: Prayer

From O. Hallesby, Prayer:

Do not forget…that prayer is ordained for the purpose of glorifying the name of God. Therefore, whether you pray for big things or for little things, say to God, “If it will not glorify Thy name, then let me remain in my predicament. And give me power to glorify Thy name in the situation in which I find myself.”

Some may think that this will weaken the power and the intensity of our prayers. But this is due to a misunderstanding of prayer as a whole. To pray is to let Jesus come in to our need. And only by praying in this way will we succeed in opening our hearts to Jesus. This will give Him the opportunity to exercise His power on our behalf, not only as He wills but also when he wills.

My prayer life/list is divided into three general categories: family, church family, and friends. And since I am a pastor, it should come as no surprise that on my list of friends for whom I pray there is a disproportionate number of pastors (or missionaries).

So as I prayed this morning for this man and that, it struck me how everyone of them is struggling. The pastors for whom I pray face disappointment, frustration, struggles with their marriages, with their children, with depression and with discouragement. Some are actively seeking other positions, some are doing so knowing their own situation is coming to an end. Some are walking through very dark times. And the needs do not respect the size of church, but strike all equally.

In all of this, pastors are not really unlike the general run of people. However, people can look at pastors and think that they are somehow immune from the common struggles of life. That is a lie that Satan would love us to believe to silence our prayers as he continues to pick apart the stability and peace of mind of these men.

Your prayer list may not have a dozen pastors on it, but it may have at least one. Pray for him.

When Oliver Twist was nine or ten, he lived in a workhouse for paupers. Charles Dickens with ironic flair paints a terrible picture of living conditions in which the residents are slowly starved to death by penny pinching overseers.

One day, driven by hunger and the provocation of his fellow inmates, Oliver Twist finishes his bowl of gruel, and then stands before his caretakers and says, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

The response was predictably frightful, which was why, of course, neither Oliver nor anyone else had dared ask before.

The Scriptures can be read to suggest that these words of Oliver are perfectly appropriate when uttered before God. It is right to come before him and say, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

Why, I wonder, do my prayers lack that simple passion? Is it because to pray so appealingly is to somehow imply that God has heretofore been stingy with me? I have been well blessed in so many ways. Is that why I do not ask for more?

Perhaps I think that I don’t have worthy things to seek from him. But to ask for a deeper love for him, or for greater fruitfulness in ministry, or for more wisdom as a father and husband, these aren’t unworthy things.

I certainly hope that it is not because I view God as a begrudging, miserly distributor of daily bread.

So then, why don’t I – why don’t WE – take up again the notion that God is a loving heavenly father delighting to give good gifts to his children? There is no shame.

“Please, sir, I want some more.”