Half As Heavy

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ.  Philemon 1:4-6 NET

Prayer really is that simple. Resist the urge to complicate it. Don’t take pride in well-crafted prayers. Don’t apologize for incoherent prayers. No games. No cover-ups. Just be honest—honest to God. Tell Him everything that is on your heart. 

Or tell Him nothing. He knows. Stress. Fear. Guilt. Grief. Demands on all sides. Sometimes all we can summon is a plaintive “I need You, Father.” If so, that’s enough.  Adoration and Devotion.

Whatever else may be said about living as a disciple of Jesus Christ and walking with Him in faith, prayer is the one discipline above and beneath all others. 

It is a combination of….

worship—through adoration, praise, and thanksgiving to God, 

fellowship—through devotion, communion, and conversation with God, 

intercession—through supplication, fasting, and spiritual warfare before God. 

Ephesians 5:19 NASB speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord. 

All our circumstances are in the hand of God. Our part in prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday moments and interactions with people to bring them before His throne, and therefore invite Holy Spirit within us to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.  We get to do the “boots to the ground” side of intercession— surrendering our own wish list and stepping onto Jesus’ road with faith. Then as we lift people to God through prayer, Holy Spirit intercedes for them.

Apostle Peter was sprung out of prison by an angel who infiltrated perimeter security, cut the chains right off Peter's wrists, and led him out. Did he go home after that? No. Where, then, did he go? He immediately went to find his friends who had been so worried about Peter that they were gathered together praying.

Faithful in prayer, they saw prayers answered when Peter came through their doors as a stunning and direct answer to their group intercessions. Hallelujah! 

Matthew 18:19-20 NET Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three are assembled in My name, I am there among them.

And while the Lord loves to hear our solo prayers, He promises great things when we bind our individual heart with other believers' hearts. God loves when we pray, it shows our trust in Him, God is pleased when we pray not only for other people but WITH other people, because it helps us pay attention to other people's needs. When we pray together, when we praise the Lord together, when we pour the grace of Jesus over others, our burdens become only half as heavy.