July 24, 2017
Years ago, I heard a preacher say that the pastor’s prayers can’t be any more powerful in public than they are in private. His point was that private prayers are the foundation and source of public prayer, and if the pastor (or anyone else, for that matter) isn’t a private prayer warrior, his public prayers will be weak and anemic.
I find it to be just the reverse. It’s not uncommon for me to struggle with private prayers. I often find myself at a loss for words, but when I’m with others, their prayers and prayer requests ignite something inside me that releases thoughts and words I didn’t know where there. Tonight at our men’s Bible study, we began as usual, with prayer requests. We went around the table, voicing our prayers; I was about midway in the lineup. By the time it was my turn, the prayers just tumbled out of me. “Where did that come from?” I thought. All I know is, it wasn’t me. St. Paul tells us in Romans 8:26, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.” When I don’t have the words, the Holy Spirit supplies what I lack. That is a comfort to this often wordless guy, something for which I am deeply thankful tonight.
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