Praying

Today I am trying to join a prayer effort in praying for the cities of our nation as they shudder under the burden of COVID-19.

We have been asked to pray Romans 12, with attention to our need for the Holy Spirit to indwell and act through the church.

We are to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice.

We are to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and permeated with love, His love, both received and given.

We are to acknowledge our gifts, given by the Spirit, His portion of Himself dwelling in each of us,

and we are to use our own gifts generously, while highly esteeming the gifts of others.

We are to overcome evil with good.  Overcome evil with good.  Yes, Lord Jesus, please overcome evil with good, in us and through us.

At such a time as this, we need one another and the power of God working through all of us, more than we ever have in our lifetime.

Before this all happened, I began to be burdened about the church.  As we moved across the country and started looking for a church, I was so discouraged by what I found, and did not find.  I had begun to pray for the church, for the Spirit to be present and active and real in the body of Christ, the collective of all who hear His voice and are called according to His purposes, all who have truly offered themselves to be vessels of His presence in the world, cracked vessels filled with the light of Christ shining out.

It is so rare that we think about the wonderful mystery of Christ in us.  In us.  We forget about His precious Holy Spirit abiding in our hearts, in our minds, in our attitudes and actions.  I fear that when we forget about Him, we quench Him.  I have been praying for Him to pour Himself out again, anew, on His people, and to rise up gloriously through us.

We the church, in times of prosperity, can become confused about our mission.  We separate what we do at the church building, and perhaps in a weekly small group meeting, from our everyday lives.  We enjoy time with church friends, sometimes sharing and praying for one another, listening to stirring music and interesting sermons about "relevant" topics, undertaking the intermittent mission trip or ministry project . . . we see church life as things we can do, and feel good about, without being fundamentally changed.  We do the church activities, enjoy them even, but in the end, we retreat to our regular lives, strategizing our retirement savings or the next money deal on the horizon, watching TV, feathering our nests, and lying down in the comfortable beds we have made for ourselves.

Church is an extra-curricular, an important one, of course, but still a sidelight.  There is always regular life to return to, whether it is work, cleaning, shopping, "chillaxing," or attending our kids' sporting events.  Because church is a sidelight, it has to be well-marketed, to continue to draw in people, who will continue to support it financially, so it can continue to grow and attract more people.  It becomes one more entertainment business, and thus, within the church, the most valued players can become those who have charismatic personalities and sparkling gifts of music and oratory.  We start to rely (as the Corinthian church also had relied) on the most successful, eloquent, attractive leaders we can find.  If they orchestrate big events that make the news, if they are effective fundraisers, if they can persuade people to get on board with their programs, we assume they are blessed by God.

Paul wrote that Christ had sent him ". . . to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.  For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God . . . And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God," (1 Cor 1:17b-18, 2:1-5).  Paul's words were in reaction to a shameful competition the brothers had begun, based on who was following the "best" teacher.

We are so prone to compete rather than to love.  1 Corinthians is Paul's plea that the church would desist from their prideful competitions and allow the Holy Spirit to move them into a life of humble love and service for one another (1 Cor 13:1-13, 16:14).  This calls everything into question, from how we choose a church, to how we set our minds in the morning when we awaken, to how we view life under the canopy of the grace of God who has given us everything we have.

And speaking of the things God has given us, we believers each have a gift, given by God, through the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of building up the body of Christ and ministering to the world.  We've become so warped in how we see the church, that we fail to see how God purposed for our gifts to work.  We glorify those with gifts to stand on the "stage" (we actually call it that these days), and we pay casual lip-service to the invisible people who did the set-up and the cleaning and handled the nuts and bolts of the service behind the scenes, and we forget everybody else.  Thus, everybody else walks around with their gifts unused and unappreciated.

Today, as I pray for our world, and for God to help us battle COVID-19, I think of our Spirit-filled brothers and sisters in Christ whose gifts are real and powerful, yet largely unsung.

I pray for Christian scientists, doctors and engineers.  I pray that God will work in them and through them, granting supernatural wisdom and skill to develop the means to help people all across the world at this time.  Engineers and doctors at the University of Illinois have developed a prototype of a simple, emergency ventilator that could become available at an approximate cost of $100 per respirator.  They are forfeiting all rights and patents and offering the design to anyone in the world who would like to produce it.  I praise God for their invention, and for their spirit of generosity in not trying to profit individually during this time of crisis.

I pray that God will raise up business people and producers--ideally Spirit-filled and Spirit-led business people and producers--to manufacture these ventilators and make them available in miraculous time.  They are saying these devices could be available within a matter of 3-4 weeks.  I pray that with God, it could be much faster than that.

We don't often think of gifts of business and science as gifts from God, but our vocations are our callings.  May we esteem our scientifically gifted brothers and sisters, and our brothers and sisters with gifts and resources to implement the speedy discovery, invention and production of life saving devices, medicines and vaccines, as gifts from God to help in time of need.  May they realize that their gifts are from God for such a time as this, and rise to the occasion in faith and love, with confidence.

Oh God, please pour out Your Spirit on your researchers and scientists and infectious disease specialists--people who know you, love you, honor you--and give them the supernatural spiritual ability to find a way to overcome this illness by your wisdom and your grace.  Give aid to your people, and let them prevail over the godless people in their fields who would mock and dismiss them because of their faith in you.  Please hasten and do not delay to come to their aid, and through them bless the world, just as through the seed of Abraham, you blessed the world with a Savior, Jesus Christ.

Lord I pray that your people, your church, your beloved children will rise up with your mercy, grace and inspiration and bless the world with Your healing at this time.  I pray that their actions will come from hearts of love and service, and that the example of altruism they set will be a blessing and a witness to people the world over.  May this be an unprecedented time when love wins over selfishness, and life is valued over money, and you are glorified above all.

In Jesus' name, Amen.