My three roommates attend a church called Maranatha which is an Aramaic phrase that means “come Lord Jesus”. Last night their church decided to do an all night prayer night for Israel and Palestine in response to the fears and grieving over what has happened and will happen in the ongoing conflict.
They needed a place to do this all night prayer gathering and it ended up being at our house. I had gotten back from the golf course and was tired so I went into my room for the night and didn’t emerge until morning.
Throughout the night I heard glimpses of what was happening from the other side of my door.
My expectation was that there would be crying and wailing as people made pleas to God for His intercession. This very much happened. I was doing some writing in my room before bed and I heard a woman crying out to God for people to know him and for the violence to stop. I heard much of this at the beginning. Then something seemingly ordinary, yet incredibly powerful happened.
I got into bed around 11:30 and almost immediately song broke out from my living room. At first the songs were more contemplative and over time became great shouts of joy and praise to God.
I lay there, unable to fall asleep, thinking about the beauty of what is happening on the other side of my door. These folks gathered in response to mourning and were praising God for being worthy of all they have. I’m getting choked up thinking about it.
You may be wondering why I didn’t participate. I was invited to. I wish I had. There was this internal dialogue within me the whole night of whether I should go join. I was held back by my pride, shame, and fear. If I’m honest, part of me was wondering what’s the point? Does it matter if we say one 5 minute prayer or pray for 9 hours? Aren’t we not supposed to pray many words? I think of Matthew 6:6-8:
“When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words, Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him”‘
We don’t need many words to be heard by God. God isn’t waiting for us to pray long enough or hard enough to answer us. He loves us so much and He knows what we need. So then why stay up all night praying?
There is no doubt from scripture that God can be moved by the prayers of faithful men and women. I think of Moses throughout the Exodus and Abraham pleading for Sodom. I in no way want to discount that. Prayer is powerful. I wonder though, setting aside what will happen in the middle east, if a miracle happened right in that living room.
There is no doubt the spirit was present in that place, I could feel it through my comforter. God was there. God was comforting his people. They came and made their requests known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guarded their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. God literally turned their mourning into dancing and singing and laughing. That’s a miracle. That is so beautiful.
God was doing something in them through prayer. Likewise, God is doing something in Israel and Palestine. He is in control. We can rest in that, bringing our mourning, pain, fear, and sorrow to God confident He will meet us there. When we enter that Holy rest, we might just move the heart of God, but God will definitely move the heart of man. Praise Jesus.
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