Prayer and the Backburner

Prayer and the Backburner

As I study this Advent season and engage in prayer with the Lord and through the National prayer chain with Pastor Corey Jones, it becomes more and more apparent of the need for us never to give up in prayer. I know of, and continue to hear stories of pastors that cease to have prayer meetings due to the lack of participants. Prayer is becoming less and less of a time where we cry out to Jesus engaging in the Spirit, and seems to be giving way to a more ritualistic style of prayer. We pray to open a service, to bless the offering, to close a service. We pray for the various given prayer requests and these things are needed and should be done, yet the Word tells us to pray in the Spirit. To do this we need to set aside a time where we can simply come into a non-restricted, untimed, moment where we can be one with Christ and simply give of ourselves completely in prayer. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8 their prayers were answered because they first gave of themselves to God. Perhaps if we could avoid the scripted and scheduled moments of timed events in prayer and give fully of ourselves in the Spirit to the One True God, we could truly hear Him; chance becoming Gracefully Broken, and once again see the glory of God back in our churches.

In my studies I ran across something that gave me hope. I believe we often do get tired, when our prayers and prayer attempts seem to go unanswered. People seem to become disinterested and seemingly distance themselves from this important relationship enhancer with Christ. Yet as we look in Luke 1, and the story of the coming Messiah, we see in Zechariah’s story our prayers to the Father, are always heard even when we think perhaps the Lord has other plans for these prayers. Zechariah is in the sanctuary of the temple praying. It was his job to pray and intercede for the people; we can believe at this point he was praying for the people as it was the ritualistic duty of the appointed priest for that time period. It would appear he was doing his ritualistic duty, when the Angel of the Lord Gabriel appears to him at the right side of the altar with a message. I think it is important to note that it is the right side. The right side is designated in Matthew 25, as the place the sheep will be placed on the final day of judgment. It is the right side where Zechariah is told his prayer has been heard. (The right side seems to indicate throughout scripture something good is about to happen.) I am sure the Lord has heard his prayer for the people, but I believe there is more. It would seem plausible that Zechariah has accepted at this point in his life that he and Elizabeth will be without child. I believe while Zechariah may have prayed for a child many times in his lifetime, that particular prayer has probably been one he has accepted, to this point, as one that God probably has other plans for. While Zechariah has accepted the fact that he and Elizabeth have up to this very old age been barren and without child, it remains to some degree a heartfelt request – a wish, or request – that they would have or could have their own child. I believe that despite this prayer being placed on the backburner and perhaps not being one Zechariah may bring up every day now that he is old and has accepted where they are in this stage of life, God still hears the prayer of his heart. It is this prayer of the heart the Holy Spirit knows and is in groaning with us as we pray, and I believe this is the prayer the Angel Gabriel is speaking of when he announces the coming birth of Zechariah’s own son.

What this says to me is to never give up. We all have backburner prayers that we have prayed for a great deal of time. If we are honest with ourselves, we know in some respects these backburner prayers we have not prayed openly about for many days, months, or perhaps years. Yet the blessing and encouragement we can take from this story of Zechariah during this Advent season is no matter how long it has been God knows the prayer of our hearts and He hears them. This puts an enormous emphasis on the need to continue to pray in the Spirit, so we can engage with the prayers of the Holy Spirit. Just as Zechariah and Elizabeth had gone years in barrenness but now are the product of answered prayers, know the Lord hears your prayers. Be assured that the time of barrenness you may experience in your situation will come to an end in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Despite the fact we may have left the audible, or thoughtful mention of these prayers in our prayer encounters, should they remain the prayer of our heart, be assured the Lord hears your prayer, just as He did Zechariah and Elizabeth’s. The key to this is to continue praying in the Spirit while holding these prayers in our heart and being fully committed to the Lord in all things. We must “pray without ceasing”, and never lose hope. Then we too will hear those words; “God has heard your prayer”.

Immanuel, and have a great Advent Season.