Web Resources for October 15th Prayer Makes a Difference

I Samuel 7:3-13

Think of the many times you have been asked or moved to pray for someone, or to pray for peace throughout the world. Or to pray for those who are dying. Or to pray for the ones who have no helper. Or to pray for those who are alone. Or to pray for the weak and hungry. Or to pray for our country, or the countries of the world. Or, how often have you been in a struggle with life yourself, and felt like you needed the prayers of others to see you through? Prayer for ourselves and others can become an overwhelming task. Not because we lack the compassion or even motivation, but because there are simply so many needs.

‘Waseskun’ is a Cree word referring to that moment at the end of a storm when the dark clouds are breaking and the blue sky and sun are beginning to seep through. This is an image we can easily identify with because we have all been present at such awe-filled times. We’ve known the gathering of the clouds that warned us of the coming storm; we’ve felt the overshadowing darkness as the storm was unleashed; we’ve witnessed the quiet that settles as the storm abates; and we’ve felt the lightness of seeing slivers of blue and finally the sun peeking through bulbous clouds, casting its warmth on the moistened ground. Life is much like ‘waseskun.’ We see the storms gathering in our own or others’ lives, and are keenly aware of the pain, suffering, sadness, grief, and worry that seem to overshadow the joy of life. At such times of darkness, our natural response is prayer. We ask the Holy One to intervene and halt the storm, part the clouds, and let the light shine through. Yet, because the needs are so great, we feel helpless to pray for all those who have asked for our prayers, much less all those who are in need of prayer, and we wonder if others will offer their prayers for us.

“Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24). God reads the prayers of our heart even before they have been formed into words or vocalized by our mouth. Prayer becomes not so much trying to remember the names and needs of each person or group. Rather the task of intercessory and petitionary prayer becomes opening our heart to receive all the needs and then asking the Holy One to read what is there. In some ways, it is more difficult than simply naming names and asking for God’s assistance, because it requires the full opening of the heart and soul to our own pain and the pain of the world. But, the God of love takes our offering and blesses our love. The God of love hears our heart and blesses those we love. The God of love lifts the needs from our heart and takes them into the heart of heaven. And we, we stand amazed, at the miracles that unfold.

A Process for Praying for Others

1. Sit quietly and center yourself in the present moment.

2. Slowly read each name listed.

3. As you read imagine the name floating into your heart.

4. Bring your awareness to being in the presence of God.

5. Open your heart and ask God to read the names that are written there.

6. Thank God for the time you’ve spent together and for listening and answering you in your prayers.

At the 2006 Interregional African-American Catholic Evangelization Conference, Father Charles Smith described how, when ministering to the mass murderer Timothy McVeigh, his faith instilled in him by loving parents throughout his childhood pain of discrimination enabled him to be Christ’s representative even as the inmate verbally assaulted him.

Other priests and Southern Baptist ministers had previously worked with the man found guilty of bombing the Oklahoma City federal building—unsuccessfully—after which he was summoned.

“When I first came in I thought ‘God is the owner of my life’ and I went to him and he threw his feces on me and called me all types of names and said ‘you can’t be a priest because I’ve never seen a you-know-what as a priest,’” he told the attentive listeners. “The devil was messin’ with me.”

But he ministered to him nevertheless, day by day, and by the end the baptized Catholic McVeigh began to repent. “He did a lot of things, but in the end we had confession, reconciliation. In the end he asked me a question a lot of people ask me. He asked ‘Father Charles, can I still get to heaven?’”

He responded that “I am not your judge” but asked, “Do you remember what you did when I first came in and that I said you must submit your will and ask God for true forgiveness? … You knew there were a lot of innocent people and children in that building.”

McVeigh asked Father Smith to walk with him to his death. While the priest had signed a waiver exempting him from that service, “the only reason I said yes was because he said ‘Father Charles, will you walk with me?’ And the tears came running down. He was crying, I was crying because he did something that changed my life too. … As a man it’s hard to ask but for him to ask for God’s love and God’s grace, that did something to me,” he recalled, reflecting on how God’s grace can transform even the most evil.

As he walked with McVeigh, he remembered how as a child he was with his light-skinned parents on a train in central Illinois and the porter told them he couldn’t serve their “wicked children” with darker skin. He remembered the humiliation of how Mississippi restaurants refused to serve them.

“I remember my mom and dad saying ‘just be patient, God is going to make a way, God is going to change you. God is going to rise, and you’re going to be raised up. Your life will be redeemed and your people.’ This is what they were telling me—some people from Mississippi. … I remembered all of that being with Timothy McVeigh.”

And in preparing to become a Society of the Divine Word Missionaries priest, as a seminarian he was sent to Bolivia, South America, where there was rebel fighting and “I saw soldiers coming in murdering and raping women, I saw with my own eyes, being tortured and thrown into prison. It all prepared me to be with Timothy McVeigh. I didn’t understand it, didn’t understand why I had to go through all that. But I remember what (my parents) told me,” he shared with the listeners who spontaneously murmured “that’s right” and “a-men.”

“I know if God can call two little black boys from the south side of Chicago to live 16-17 years in an international religious order, to go around the world and to come back home to be with His people to teach and to preach and be free in the Spirit, I have nothing to fear, I’m not worried about what any man says. And my eyes are on the sparrow. God is with me, and I know God is with you and we shall be free for evermore.”

Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray--to really pray. Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight--all through the day. Let us all pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for our churches. Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word 'concern' out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice.

Robert E. Lee.

Lesson as printed in the Advocate.

Tony Campolo tells a story about a rambunctious boy who could not be controlled in church. His father gave him paper and crayons to keep him busy during the service. Carefully the boy took one of the crayons, aimed it an elderly lady about five rows in front of him and hit her in the back of the head. The father had enough. As he marched out with the boy, his son yelled at the congregation, “Pray for me!” His actions might indicate that he didn’t understand what worship was all about.. In reality, he knew that here was a place where folks would intercede on his behalf. The errant house of Israel had strayed from God’s ways, but they knew that there was hope in praying for God’s help.

Serious about Cleaning House:

One of the first things doctors and nutritionists recommend if you are serious about a healthy lifestyle, is to purge your cabinets and pantry of all the unhealthy foods that can cause harm. If you are not tempted to reach in for those unhealthy snacks, you are less likely to get off track. Samuel had similar advice to the house of Israel. “Clean house. Get rid of the foreign gods; ground yourselves firmly in God; worship him and him alone…”

The first step in a Christian’s life is recognizing his or her sins. Once we are willing to admit that there are traits and behaviors that need amending, we are ready to move forward in the faith.

Jimmy Hoffa is credited with saying, “I may have faults, but being wrong, ain’t one of them.” Getting past the idea that we are infallible is the first step in becoming the people God wants us to be.

Drawn Water

"They drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day, and said, 'We have sinned against the Lord'" (I Sam. vii. 6), as meaning that Israel poured out their hearts in repentance; using the water as a symbol according to 2:29, "Pour out thine heart like water before the Lord." This admonition reminds us of John the Baptist, the “thunder in the desert,” preaching repentance in Luke 3. We have a need to confess that we are not self-sufficient. Rather we are dependent on God for our very lives. When we begin to think that we have accomplished much and are in total control, we lose sight of God’s abiding love and presence in our lives.

Jeremiah sadly wrote for God that “my people . . . have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” How do we begin to reestablish or reconcile ourselves to God? We begin in conversation with our creator and redeemer. We pray.

John Claypool fondly recalls a time early in his ministry when his daughter was about 4 years old. He was hard at work in his home study one morning when little Laura slipped in quietly. She was still in her pajamas and – without a word – climbed up in her father’s lap and placed her head on his shoulder, “I’m really glad to see you,” he told her, “What can I do for you? What do you want today?” Laura paused a moment and then said, “Nothing. I just wanted to be close to you. That’s all.” In prayer, we are in the close presence of our Father who loves us and wants the very best for us.

We cannot enter God’s presence without undergoing change. Prayer isn’t just a spiritual version of a “want list” we might submit to Santa Claus. Christian writer, Mike Nappa, says that “prayer is a vehicle by which I can miraculously pursue intimacy with the all-powerful God. I get a chance to let God know how I feel, to laugh and cry in my Father’s presence, and to trust God no matter how life’s circumstances turn out. Perhaps instead of saying, ‘I prayed, nothing happened,’ I need to learn how to simply say, ‘I prayed. That’s enough.’”

Raising Our Ebenezer

As the people submit to God’s call, they make a stand for God. The author of the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” (#400 UMH), Robert Robinson, wrote the words to this hymn three years after his miraculous conversion from a wild and sinful life. He recalled that Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, naming it Ebenezer. Recognizing that it was only by God’s help that he had made spiritual progress, Robinson wanted to raise a spiritual “Ebenezer” to commemorate his own victory over evil. Talking about my “Ebenezer” seems like a very foreign concept today, but this idea does express our sincere attitude of gratitude that we should have as God is our very present help in time of trouble.

In another contemporary hymn,, “God Will Make a Way,” Don Moen writes, “God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see; God will make a way for me.” What we need to remember from that significant meeting of God, Samuel and the house of Israel is that communication with God makes a difference in how we approach whatever comes our way because we know that we never face the good or bad alone.

“When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail, don’t forget that your God in heaven answers prayer, he will make a way for you, and lead you safely through, take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.” #522 UMH.

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