Irritated? Pray!

What do you do when you're irritated?  Do you pray?

If you're like me, your first reaction is to stew over the problem.  And then, you may strike out at the person who annoyed you.  The result is usually bad.

But Jan Johnson, author of Enjoying the Presence of God, urges us to pray.  That's what she has learned to do.

In her book, she tells of driving with a car-pool companion who constantly complained.  She says: "I thought I would explode."

She was rocking her daughter's child-sized rocking chair one day when her co-worker popped into her mind.  She offered a breath prayer for this worker.

After that, she put the rocking chair in her kitchen and, every time she passed by, she rocked the chair and offered a quick prayer for this person.  Her resentment evaporated.

She advises us to turn an irritating moment or situation into prayer.  For example, a neighbour's messy yard can lead to a prayer like, "Turn this person's heart toward you" or "what is it you want to show me through this person?"

Johnson acknowledges that we need to be open to God with our frustrations, just as the psalmist David was.  She suggests that "the way to move from anger to peacemaking is to go through the anger, not to deny it".  We confess to God our feelings and seek his forgiveness.

Then, we release the problem into God's hands and pray for the person we were complaining about a moment before.

Of course, the apostle Paul asks us to go even further - to bless the person who hurt us (Romans 12:14). The very act of blessing can change our hearts and our attitudes.  Admittedly, it is hard to do.

But even a small step - like Jan Johnson praying when she noticed the rocking chair - can be a good start.

Turn your thoughts into prayer!

My mind normally bounces around like a rubber ball - from one thing to another.

What if I settled on one thing and prayed about it before moving on?  It would take some discipline, but I'm sure it would change me.

Suppose I'm anxious about a presentation I'm about to make.  Instead of telling myself that I'm worried, I could thank God for the opportunity.  I could pray for the people attending, asking that the Holy Spirit will prepare them.

I could go on to ask for God's peace of mind.  I could pray the prayer that author Jan Johnson often uses: "Into your hands, O Lord."  In effect, I would surrender the presentation into God's hands - and that would bring me peace.

Or, maybe there are several things I have to do in a hurry.  I could ask God to help me see these tasks through his eyes.  What is most important to him? I can ask him to give me patience as I carry them out.  I can ask for his peace and rest even in the midst of the hurry and bustle.

Or, I might be wrestling with a family heartache.  I can thank God that he is present and cares about the family member even more than I do.  I can plead my case to the Lord and then give it to him to sort out.

It sounds easy and I know it isn't in practice.  It means I have to slow down and put on the brakes to my worried mind.

But I really feel it is worthwhile.

I keep coming back to Psalm 139 where David tells us that God knows everything about us and is with us everywhere and in every moment.

In verse 17, he says:  "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!"

How can I know God's thoughts without asking him?  Prayer gives me that opportunity, even when I'm on the run.

Never give up

This week, I was reminded once again to never give up praying for loved ones.

I was sitting with our grandchildren watching a video about Augustine, the great early Christian writer and leader.  A key figure in his story was his mother Monica who prayed for him for years even though his case seemed hopeless.

Augustine was a brilliant young man from North Africa who seemed destined for a great career in Rome as a speaker and philosopher.  He loved his mother but rejected Christianity.

But his questing mind was dissatisfied with the other philosophies popular in imperial Rome.  And he found himself giving his life to Jesus while sitting on a bench and hearing a boy's voice call out: "Take up and read."  He had the scriptures in his lap and read a verse from Romans which opened his heart to the Lord.

Yesterday, I was assisting in a junior youth class and watching as several boys in a small group showed no interest in the Bible and one, in particular, was distracting.  They were typical boys - full of energy and high spirits.

I recalled a similar group of teenaged boys I taught years ago at a previous church.  One of the more disruptive boys is now a dedicated minister - he is the fruit of many prayers by his parents.

In his book Don't Just Stand There: Pray Something, Ronald Dunn asks how often have we fallen short of God's blessing because we have stopped praying.  That applies to anything that is close to our heart.

He mentions the story of Jacob who wrestled with an angel (Genesis 32:24-32).  Jacob was desperately afraid of his brother Esau whom he was about to meet again after years apart.

The wrestling continued all night until the angel asked Jacob to let him go.  But Jacob says: "I will not let you go unless you bless me."  And the angel blessed him.

"Do you believe Jacob was so strong he could pin down an angel?" asks Dunn. "That fight was fixed. I believe that while the angel was saying, 'Let me go,' he was whispering under his breath, 'but I hope you don't.  Hang on a little longer and you will get the blessing.'"

He quotes famed evangelist Vance Havner as saying: "The problem is that the situation is desperate but we're not."

The lesson for me is that I must pray stubbornly and urgently for others.  God wants people with a caring heart like his. 

Love on its knees

Author James Banks calls prayer "love on its knees".  This love is multiplied as we pray together.

In his book The Lost Art of Praying Together, Banks quotes the great 19th century American evangelist Charles Finney:

"Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians together than praying together.  Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other's hearts in prayer."

This is true in my own experience.  Sometimes, I have been overcome with emotion when I have prayed for someone who is suffering in our group.  And I have seen the same with others.

I believe the Holy Spirit stirs our hearts as we pray for each other.

It is true that this deep love sometimes wells up in our hearts when we pray alone.  But, as Finney says, our hearts go out to others in our group as we hear their prayers - sometimes desperate prayers.

Jesus called us to love one another and to be united.  There is no better way than prayer to love others in our group of believers.

"It is hard to be mad at someone when you are praying in the right spirit, mindful that the same Lord who has forgiven your sins is listening," writes Banks.

"Praying together is one of the ways the unity that Jesus prayed for naturally occurs as the Spirit convicts us, changes our hearts, and draws us together."

Banks says that he belongs to a multi-racial group of ministers that meets in his home city of Durham, North Carolina every week to plead with God to bring revival to their city.  As they pray together, the deep racial prejudices that have plagued the city melt away.

"We've learned that when we seek God honestly together in prayer, it's impossible to remain at odds for long."

Part of the reason for this is that Jesus promised to be with us in a special way when two or three of us are gathered together in prayer (Matthew 18:19,20).

How can we fight when Jesus is with us?