Pete's Page
1.Praying Prunes

We start our season of focussing on prayer by looking at Nehemiah in the throes of heartfelt pleading. He gets quite emotional! And good on him too. It meant he felt his concerns for Jerusalem very deeply…it also meant his pleading with God was passionate. Even more passionate than we are when we’re urging our team on to great things…and that’s passionate!

So many of our prayers are all too calm and reasoned because they don’t always come from the depths of our being we feel the need most dearly. Believe me “passion” is not a dirty word when applied to prayer. Without passion we are rather desiccated like prunes rather than ripe juicy plums. Without passion it’s hard to believe in our hearts that there will be any kind of answer forthcoming from the Throne of Grace.

Without passion our prayers tend to waver if something else more engaging or “interesting” comes along…even while we’re praying. We put prayer into the regions of optional spiritual practice as being too hard, or an unproductive use of time. But what if you stopped to contemplate what would be the situation of the thing you were praying for wasn’t granted…would that power you up for a greater level of persistence, for a deeper reach of passion?

As an aside if the answer to “what if it wasn’t granted” question is not too significant why are you squandering your spiritual passion on that rather than something that doesn’t really matter? This is why prayer for healing is so amazing, because it’s often out of desperation that we turn to prayer for healing (whether ourselves or another.) Is the unanswered need offensive to you? Does it seem a shocking shame for someone to suffer as you’ve seen? Does that injustice you’ve noticed seem unbearable? There’s a great reason to hammer at God’s door with your concern.

Come on get passionate about praying…God actually gives a darn about what’s on your heart…maybe the problem is that there’s nothing on our hearts. Then…have a heart!!!