"Because of [my daughter's] connections, we literally have people around the whole world praying for him."
I just heard this statement... as well as others... in regards to one woman's husband making it out of brain surgery relatively safely. He still has physical problems because of the health problem that warranted the surgery, and possibly from the surgery itself. But, the basic message was that he got well because he had the whole world praying for him - he had people from 20 different countries at least praying for him. All because his daughter is a missionary.
My father-in-law is dealing with terminal cancer. My husband is looking at choosing between killing another kidney or having his leg amputated (actually, he won't be given the choice most likely... he'll lose the leg). This woman's message, to me, says that the men in my life don't deserve and/or won't have their prayers answered. They don't have a missionary daughter. They don't have hundreds of thousands of people offering prayers for them.
Instead, they have a few very close, very wonderful, friends and family members crying and praying in earnest for these men whom they love.
Don't get me wrong... this other person has that as well. I am one praying for him. Although I do not know him very well, I have worked with his wife and one of their daughters. I know and adore his grand-kids. And the thought of them having to continue through life without him is heartbreaking to me.
My point, however...
Is it better to have 10,000 people throwing up a brief prayer for someone they don't know (you know the kind... "and please also be with...[commence reading from a list of 185 names]".... or 10 falling on their knees in sincere, heartfelt prayer?
Does it matter? Will God listen to the 10,000 over the 10? Will He answer the more He's hounded? Have we condemned our loved ones to death because we don't know thousands of people in dozens of countries?
Great question, Brandi. I don't think that it's a clear-cut, simple matter of how many are praying. I know that Jesus did say "Wherever there are two or more of you gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of you". But I don't think numbers are all there is to it. I think that the more people pray for a healing, the more people will be blessed because they offered up prayers for that person.
ReplyDeleteThere's a saying that says that "Prayed doesn't change God, it changes me [the one praying]". When we talk to God, He does a work in our hearts. So prayer is really a relational type thing. It builds the relationship between God and His people who pray to Him. That way, His people are all blessed together.