Should I pray for a parking spot near the shopping mall entrance or close to the church door?
Should I pray about that swimming costume I’m dying to buy or the twenty-function vegetable peeler I just saw advertised on TV that would make me more like a Masterchef?
After all, I am God’s child, and doesn’t he want the best for his children? In which case perhaps I should pray for a parking spot some distance from the shops and walk off those extra Christmas kilos. Surprise, surprise, the Lord miraculously provides ample parking the further I have to walk!
And if I take that parking spot next to the dedicated disabled space, just one away from the church door, aren’t I doing a service (or is it a disservice) to the late-comer or the new-comer who may need to shed those kilos more than me?
Is not this kind of praying, and the view of spiritual reality that lies behind, it barely more than half a degree of separation from the prosperity theology that has blighted parts of the church for too long?
It also happens almost every time I go to church - whether that’s big church on Sunday morning or small church on Monday night. Our prayers rarely get out of the doctor’s surgery, the classifieds or the travel brochures. Now I’m all for health, houses and holidays. As is the Bible. And I’m into praying anywhere, anytime and about anything. But are these the concerns that should crowd our prayers?
And I think I should pray about what I yearn for. There’s no better way of putting a stop to contemplating the unhealthy yearnings and cultivating the healthy ones.
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).
This could be a prayer - a prayer for a moment, but more likely the prayer of a lifetime.
As we delight in the Lord, as we surrender our will to the Lord’s, for that is what we do in prayer (Your will be done), our desires will surely, steadily, perhaps more slowly than we would like, be governed by his ways and his will.
I am aware, deeply aware, of three things that I yearn for, and yet want to yearn for more strongly (see The Yearning).
- To be more like Jesus
- To see and end to suffering
- To love lost people
If I yearn for these things, will I not pray for them? If I pray for them will he not answer my prayers about them? If he answers my prayers about them will they not become the desires of my heart?
Imagine a community of people, a church if you like, who are praying to be more like Jesus, praying to be agents to end suffering, praying to have a deeper compassion for people who, without Jesus, remain under God’s judgement and face the profound prospect of eternal punishment.
Imagine such a community after a week, a month, a year of such praying.
I need to remind myself that the Apostle Paul had such a passion for his fellow Jews, that he could say,
My prayer and hearts desire for the Israelites is that they may be saved (Romans 10:1).
And to Agrippa:
Short time or long, I (pray) that not only you but all who are listening to me today would become what I am, except for these chains (Acts 26:13).
Why does Paul have such yearnings?
1. He longed to be like Jesus
The crucified and risen Christ turned his life around. Once staggering under the unbearable demands of the law, now swimming in oceans of forgiving grace. Once a hate-filled murderer of Christians, now a love-filled missionary for Christ. Once committed to a menacing policy to root out the church of Jesus, now to the ministry of reconciliation.
What Jesus did for Paul, Paul longed he would do for others.
2. He hated suffering
Paul had suffered terribly at the hands of both Jews and Romans.
Governor Felix had just kept him in cold storage for two years. Two years! I get edgy if someone puts me on hold on the phone for two minutes. If I was kept on ice for two years I’d be boiling with revenge. But was does Paul say? Sure he wants people to be blindsided by Jesus’ grace. But he wants more, “except for these chains.”
He doesn’t want anyone to suffer the way he has - even those who have inflicted the hardship on him!
It’s awful to see people in pain, whether that’s physical pain or emotional pain. A lonely parent. A grieving widow. A sick child. An anxious father. A troubled teenager. A broken friend. A hungry and homeless refugee.
How we long for such pain to be eased.
And if we so hate suffering, how much more do we hate the prospect of eternal suffering of those who die unforgiven.
3. He loved people
Paul yearned for the salvation of others. He obeyed the words of Jesus:
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).
He grew in the compassion of his Master:
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:36-38).
It’s quite understandable how we pedestal people with PHD’s. It is certainly an achievement to be lauded. There’s one in my family, and it’s certainly not me. How I respect such an accomplishment. But what about people with a PHD from Paul’s school of prayer and faculty of passion?
May our prayer and heart’s desire (PHD) be for our Sovereign God to rescue lost people from the horror of hell to the safe haven of heaven through trusting in Jesus - and Jesus alone.
