…Just Words!

S:

2 Corinthians 9:14

14  while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.

(NASB)

O: In this passage, Paul has been talking about how one of the early churches has been thinking ahead and preparing for the inevitable needs of a sister church, and how this sister church is so thankful for everything that is being done for them. Towards the end of this passage, in a very short (uncharacteristically for Paul) and simple verse, Paul acknowledges the fact that the smaller (Macedonian), newer church has been praying for them, because that is about all that they can do at this present time.

A:

Just recently, Punkin (my wife’s nickname since early in our marriage) and I were facing an especially rough time over my lack of employment, and the fact that once again, our budget was all shot to rat (wonder where that phrase comes from), and we were fast dropping below our cash reserve “hard deck”. What does all of this have to do with prayer? Well, sadly, very sadly, for the first time in our 36 years of marriage, we started praying in bed, holding each other, every night before we went to sleep. Now, was this the first time that God heard about our situation? Of course not, we had been muttering about it for days and weeks, and we know that He hears all of our thoughts before we have them, and we may have even been praying for them individually as we moved through our days. However…

Have you ever been in one of those situations where someone, out of the blue, simply asks a question out loud, without addressing anyone in particular…and they get ignored? Since no one in particular was formally addressed and put on notice that a question was about to be asked and an answer was expected, no one answers and the question just sort of hangs there. I have begun to wonder if that is not possibly the case with our prayers and God.

Now, hear me out. I have prayed probably 1000’s and 1000’s of times, and never really heard an answer from God, to the point of making me wonder, not if God existed (I have always believed that He existed), but rather if he was really interested in me and my problems. I have always had the head knowledge that God exists and is concerned for our well-being, not just financially and physically, but also emotionally and mentally. However, this recent experience has made me wonder about the possibility that the “One Flesh” thing isn’t a lot more encompassing. We made the vow to this other person, to become one flesh, and our minds automatically go to the physical aspect, because we are trained to think about “flesh” in that manner. But what if it is also possible that this “One Flesh” label extends far outside the bedroom, to the arena of prayer. What if our prayers as a married person are, not ineffectual, but rather “less potent”, since we have not prayed as “One Flesh”. I am not discounting the need for individual prayer, ie., “Lord, help me to respond properly to this individual that I am meeting with?, but if we are praying for something that is going to affect and effect our marriage, we have to do it as a “One Flesh” unit, since that is what we are.

I know that for many other individuals this is not going to be new news, but for this stumbling husband, it has been one of those light-bulb moments.

P:

Lord, please help us to understand the necessity of prayer as unit “One Flesh”, and to make such activity a priority today. Amen.