I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. [1 Timothy 2:1 (NLT)]
While there are no hard and fast rules about prayer except to believe in it and do it, some people use acronyms to help organize their prayers. The PRAY method stands for Praise, Repent, Ask, and Yield while the ACTS method formats prayer into Admiration (praise), Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (asking God for what is needed). A TACOS prayer structure is Thanks, Adoration (or Applause), Confession, Others, and Self. Rather than an acronym, I was taught “The Hand of Prayer” as a girl. Beginning with the thumb, the order was Praise, Thanksgiving, Confession, Intercession (prayer for others), and Petition (prayer for oneself).
Regardless of how we do it, we should remember that only after we’ve put God first in our prayers, are we to pray for others and ourselves. I, for one, admit that I often speed through praise and thanks along with confession and repentance to get right to the asking. Worse, I find that my personal petitions frequently preempt and outweigh my intercessory prayers.
There is nothing wrong with praying for ourselves. In the Lord’s Prayer, we were taught to ask for our daily needs, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from temptation. The Psalms are filled with pleas for God to intervene in the psalmists’ lives. Hannah, Jabez, David, Paul and even Jesus prayed for themselves. Praying for ourselves brings us into an intimate relationship with God and invites His blessings into our lives. The problem arises when we come to God just for those blessings without acknowledging Him or praying for others. Remembering our “God blesses” for others didn’t end with adulthood!
Before he became Pope Francis, Cardinal Bergoglio is said to have created the “Five Finger” prayer approach to help little ones remember their many “God blesses.” His method helps us remember to offer our prayers for others, as well. Because it’s nearest to the body when hands are folded in prayer, the thumb reminds us to pray for the people who are nearest and dearest—our family and friends. The index or pointing finger is a reminder to pray for those people (e.g. teachers, counselors, doctors, and pastors) who point us in the right direction. As the strongest and tallest, the middle finger is a prompt to pray for those in power and authority (even the ones with whom we disagree). Because it is the weakest digit with the least amount of dexterity, the fourth (or ring) finger reminds us to pray for the weak and powerless (e.g. the homeless, vulnerable, impoverished, and suffering). It is only when we get to the pinky that we pray for ourselves and our own needs. That little finger is a vivid reminder of how small we are in relation to God and how small our needs are in relation to the needs of others.
It is both a responsibility and a privilege to lift others’ needs to God in prayer. Abraham interceded for the people of Sodom, Job for his friends, Moses for the Israelites, the early church for the imprisoned Peter, Daniel for his captive nation, Paul for the readers of his letters, and Jesus for His disciples. John Calvin said, “To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them.” When we pray with our five fingers, we have four fingers reminding us to do just that!
We are never more like Christ than in prayers of intercession. [Austin Phelps]
By forgiving people’s sins, Jesus was placing Himself in the role of God because only God can forgive sins. Had Jesus not been God, it would have been blasphemy. When He raised the dead, multiplied food, stilled storms, and healed incurable diseases, Jesus was doing other things that only God could do. His incredible claim that He could bring Himself back from the dead, something only God could do, was another way Jesus claimed His divinity. The undeniable proof of His claim came Easter morning when Jesus demonstrated power over both life and death. The tomb was empty and people saw the risen Christ—they heard Him speak, watched Him eat, saw His wounds, and touched Him. The forty days the resurrected Jesus remained on earth, however, is about more than proof of his claim to be God; it’s about proof of our relationship to God.
Found in almost every Roman Catholic church (and some Protestant and Orthodox ones), are the Stations of the Cross—a series of fourteen icons or carvings on the walls—each of which depict a moment in the Passion of Christ. Created to help people contemplate the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, they start with His death sentence from Pilate and end with His dead and battered body being laid in the tomb. Because Good Friday and Jesus’ death aren’t the end of the story, some churches have begun adding the resurrected Christ as a 15th station.
While touring an historic house, the elaborately set dinner table reminded me of the large formal dinner parties we had in our younger (and more energetic) days. I’d start preparing the table in advance by adding extra leaves to the table, gathering the extra chairs, and ironing out the creases in the damask tablecloth. From the cupboard in the basement, I’d haul up the crystal salad plates, my mother’s Lenox china, and the hand-painted Bavarian service plates and Czechoslovakian dessert plates that were my grandmother’s. I’d spend hours polishing the silverware and serving pieces. The service plates were set out, the silverware laid, the crystal wine and water goblets carefully placed at each setting, and the napkins artfully folded. I’d set out the silver candlesticks, put in fresh candles, get flowers from the florist, and create what I hoped would be the perfect Martha Stewart-worthy table setting. There was plenty more work to do in the kitchen. I’d spend days perusing recipes, planning the menu, making lists, purchasing food, and preparing it all. I loved doing it because I loved the people for whom I did it. Nevertheless, as nice as my guests were and as much as they enjoyed themselves, I’m not sure they truly appreciated how much effort went into everything that on that table.
In my last post, I pondered why Jesus chose the men he did as his apostles. As we enter Holy Week and the events leading to the Lord’s arrest and crucifixion, I wonder specifically about Judas Iscariot. We don’t know what Jesus saw in Judas when he was chosen as one of the twelve or even what was in Judas’ heart in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. We only know that discontent, ambition, and greed had entered his treacherous heart by the end.
We know Jesus prayed all night before choosing His Apostles. What made Him select those twelve men for His inner circle? Perhaps Andrew and John, having previously been disciples of John the Baptizer, were primed for the arrival of the Messiah but why did Jesus choose Andrew’s brother Simon/Peter and John’s brother James? Jesus called John and James the “Sons of Thunder,” implying they were bold, rash, and quick to anger. Why would Jesus choose them rather than men more even-tempered and less impetuous? For that matter, why four fishermen instead of students of the Torah? You don’t have to know how to cast a net to go fishing for people!
Devotions of the Heart 