Quote

Here's another quote from the book I am reading. This is a passage in the book about a guy whose sister is an anorexic. She's 26 & is only 70 pounds, & has all manner of medical issues. He begins, "'I'm here to confess something to you...' Looking up at his audience, Paul paused: 'I don't even pray for her. I've been asking myself, 'Why not? Don't you care? Yes, I care! Do I believe in prayer? Yes, of course!' The reason I don't pray for my sister is because it's just too painful. To pray for her is to think about her situation. It means identifying with her and feeling her pain. So I find it easier just to forget the whole thing and pretend it's not happening.

'But God's been challenging me to feel my sister's pain, because that's actually what it means to truly intercede. I also believe God is challenging us...to dare to feel the pain all around us. To move from praying 'for' people from the comfort of our own salvation to interceding 'with' them from a position of need... Here's the question: 'Will we allow the things that break God's heart to break our hearts too? It'll mean more tears, more listening. It may even be the reason why so many of us struggle with our own personal burdens and heartaches - God is allowing us to feel the pain, to be weak and broken so that our prayers have power.

'Intercession means weeping for the Earthquake victims in the news right now, and for the anorexics, the drug abusers, the sexually abused, the friends who don't know Jesus. And God says that if we will stand in the gap in this way, bridging the ravine between a hurting generation and a healing God - we will see breakthrough, a new level of effectiveness in prayer. In short, there will be very great power in our pain, or, in the words of The Vision, we will weep 'sulphuric tears'.'

Paul scanned the crowd for a moment and noticed the way some were avoiding his gaze: 'This is a tough word isn't it? We're so often told to trust Jesus for a problem-free existence. But what if the call to pray is a call to bleed as well as to receive a blessing? Maybe we'll run out of words in the prayer room and just join the Spirit in praying with 'groans that words cannot express.' Maybe our passion will consume us until we actually live out our prayers in practical action? Will you carry the cross? Can you receive it?'"




Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig & Dave Roberts, page 162