Prayer may be the most powerful thing in the world and it is most definitely one of the simplest. It actually costs nothing. You don’t have to leave the privacy and comfort of your own home to do it. And you don’t have to gather publicly to do it either. In fact, you don’t even have to open your mouth in order to engage in prayer. You can pray anywhere, at anytime in any place and people don’t have to even know you are doing it. The simple fact is that prayer is prayer whether we are gathered together so the whole world can watch us or if we are alone kneeling at the side if our beds. Whether we are shouting to the high heavens or whispering under our breath, prayer is prayer! In fact, there is some biblical evidence that may lead one to believe that the quiet unassuming prayers are the more powerful ones. Maybe these ones are the ones that God really pays attention to the most. We see in the famous story that Jesus relates in Luke 18:11-14 two very different forms of prayer displayed. The Pharisee rather loudly and in the temple (a public place) “prayed to himself” and went on to unabashedly fire off to God all of his most admirable traits no doubt keeping one eye open to see if an audience was gathering. The second man, the publican, stood afar off and would not raise his eyes to heaven and cried out for God’s mercy. Jesus clearly puts His stamp of approval in vs 14 on the second form of prayer.
In light of the recent court ruling that the national day of prayer is unconstitutional we would do well to take a brief brake from our protesting to examine our hearts and ask ourselves why does this ruling make us so angry. What are we really fighting for? This ruling has not done anything to hinder the power of prayer in any way. What is it that we are afraid of losing? Is it The opportunity to publicly express that we are better than the people who don’t pray? Or maybe it’s the pomp and circumstance that surrounds this day that we will so desperately miss. Or, possibly, we don’t have the right understanding of what prayer really is and what our attitude should be in regards to it.
I am not against public prayer gatherings in any way, shape or form. In fact, my wife is attending the Global Day of Prayer conference in South Africa next week. She is attending as one of the regional prayer coordinators of prayer movements for all Of Latin America for Campus Crusade For Christ. I think that days of prayer and global prayer movements are important and necessary but I think that prayer is more necessary. The purpose of these events is to offer a public reminder of something that all Christians should be doing on a regular, consistent and humble basis without any fan fare.
Let’s not give the world another reason to see us as militant protesters out there constantly attacking everything we disagree with. Let’s pick our battles. Let’s not go to war over the fact that one public day of prayer has been taken away when we are perfectly free to pray at anytime and anywhere else we choose. I have a feeling that even if the T.V. cameras don’t show us in our best devotional postures with hands raised and eyes closed on national television that God will still hear our prayers.
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