Tuesday, January 7, 2020

The Unselfish Prayer

[1] 
Tuesday, January 7, 2020

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.  Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.  Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21

When C.S. Lewis finally learned how to pray it was because his dying wife, Joy, needed a prayer warrior.  With her life hanging in the balance, Lewis’ spiritual advisor/pastor uttered one of those trite things we all say when we should be silent, God can change this.  
Lewis, in the throes of spiritual formation, brought on by the imminent death of his wife, looked at his spiritual mentor and solemnly replied, I pray because I can’t help myself.  I pray because I’m helpless.  I pray because the need flows out of me all the time – waking and sleeping.  It does not change God – it changes me.[2]
Unselfish prayer is something of a redundancy; prayer is, by nature humble, not selfishly arrogant.  If self is the primary target it is hardly prayer.  Paul’s example of his deep love for the church at Ephesus is our model of praying the most important of prayers – for spiritual understanding, strength and blessing on the lives of those who co-labor for the sake of Christ.  To borrow from C.S. Lewis, that is the kind of praying which changes us.
 My Mom always had a hard time saying no to her children.  As a pre-teen I begged my parents (starting wisely with Mom) to let me bring home a free German Shepherd puppy.  (Incidentally there is no such thing as a “free” puppy).  My profuse whining brought the dog home.  We named him Bosco (after my favorite chocolate syrup in milk).  He was the resident clown in our home, more entertaining than a circus.  The way he dragged our other small dog around by the tail and flirted with the cat’s patience nose to nose – you didn’t need a TV in our house; Bosco was ever ready to play.  He could make you laugh until you cried.
Unfortunately, in just months my dog got very sick.  I then turned to prayer, whining even more profusely to God than I had for Mom’s permission.  My prayers notwithstanding, the dog died.  To this day I do not know what caused this first pet of mine to die, nor do I understand the why of it all.  What I do recall are the tears and anguish that tore my insides apart for weeks; hardly a fascinating story for the success circuit of TV evangelism or prayer manuals! 
Six decades of remembering that first heartache of loss have taught me too many lessons to list here, but a couple stand above most:
1.     I was unprepared for the death of my grandparents which would take place shortly after my dog died.  There’s something of a growing up that takes place in the middle of grief over losing your dog. 
2.     Not all prayers offered are unselfish; I wanted Bosco to live because he made me happy.  Truth be told, I was praying for me, not him.
For You Today
Paul’s prayer for his Ephesian friends was written in jail, awaiting execution.  He didn’t pray for a puppy, or his release; his unselfish prayer was a Kingdom thing.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
[2] Shadowlands 1993 movie

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