God hears our prayers

Out Loud

Posted on by Betsy

I will never forget the first time my prospective husband met my parents. He and I met at the beginning of my freshman year of college. Courtship was going very well, so I decided to bring him home to meet my family. That’s when he got the full picture of what he was getting into. We stepped inside the door and I yelled at the top of my lungs, “I’M HOOOOMME!!” I noticed him flinching, but I thought nothing of it. Then my mother responded full volume from upstairs: “I’LL BE DOWN IN A MINUTE!” and my dad hollered up from the basement, “BE RIGHT THERE!” I think the poor boy’s ears were bleeding. He looked at me and said, “Oh, good Lord. I’m dating the LOUD family.” Yup.

Being loud and articulate was how I was raised. There are times when we have to be loud in order to accomplish something that “quiet” can’t do. The writer of Psalm 77 agrees:

Psalm 77 (Common English Bible)

I cry out loud to God—
    out loud to God so that he can hear me!
2 During the day when I’m in trouble I look for my Lord.
    At night my hands are still outstretched and don’t grow numb;
        my whole being refuses to be comforted.
3 I remember God and I moan.
    I complain, and my spirit grows tired. Selah

We raise our voices because we want to the heard. But as I read this, I wonder: do we ever really need to be loud with God?

It is obvious that the psalmist is in some kind of deep distress. He extends his arms in prayer and supplication night after night. The cause of his anguish is not known, but it is bad enough to have kept him awake at night and eventually rendered him speechless:

4 You’ve kept my eyelids from closing.
    I’m so upset I can’t even speak.
5 I think about days long past;
    I remember years that seem an eternity in the past.
6 I meditate with my heart at night;
    I complain, and my spirit keeps searching:

In his rumination, he began to question everything he knew and understood about God. This is not uncommon when the answers to our prayers are not coming as fast as we would like. Have you ever felt that way? Do you ever wonder “when will this torment end?”

7 “Will my Lord reject me forever?
    Will he never be pleased again?
8 Has his faithful love come to a complete end?
    Is his promise over for future generations?
9 Has God forgotten how to be gracious?
    Has he angrily stopped up his compassion?” Selah
10 It’s my misfortune, I thought,
    that the strong hand of the Most High is different now.

Fortunately for us, the psalmist finds a way out.

He remembered.

11 But I will remember the Lord’s deeds;
    yes, I will remember your wondrous acts from times long past.
12 I will meditate on all your works;
    I will ponder your deeds.
13 God, your way is holiness!
    Who is as great a god as you, God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
    you have demonstrated your strength among all peoples.
15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people;
    redeemed the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

And with the memories of all the great things God had done for Israel, he recalled God’s strength and his mighty arm. He recalled the great miracle of the parting of the Red Sea and how God delivered Moses, Aaron, and the entire nation:

16 The waters saw you, God—
    the waters saw you and reeled!
        Even the deep depths shook!
17 The clouds poured water,
    the skies cracked thunder;
        your arrows were flying all around!
18 The crash of your thunder was in the swirling storm;
    lightning lit up the whole world;
        the earth shook and quaked.
19 Your way went straight through the sea;
    your pathways went right through the mighty waters.
        But your footprints left no trace!
20 You led your people like sheep
    under the care of Moses and Aaron.

So, here’s what I think. When you are in deep trouble, get loud. Go ahead and yell. Beat your fists on your chest. Weep and wail away until it’s out of your system.

If you still feel as though God has abandoned you, stop yelling and remember God’s goodness. Make a list of God’s miracles. Will any of this change God? Nope. But when you remember God’s unlimited power and strength by making an inventory of what God has done, you will be changed.

And that makes all the difference.

Night into Day by Michelle Robertson

Anointing

Posted on by Betsy

I remember my first healing service like it was yesterday. I was a very young pastor, fresh out of seminary, and the prayer ministry had asked the pastoral leadership to do a healing service for the church. There is a service in our United Methodist Book of Worship that involves prayer, the laying on of hands, and the anointing with oil.

I had never experienced a healing service growing up in the Methodist church as a child, and I was very curious about what would happen and how we would proceed. Visions of dramatic and overblown ”healings” from pentecostal television filled my imagination, and I tried to reconcile those images with how we methodical/Anglican-based Methodists would do such a service.

The service began, and after a homily, people were invited to come forward to kneel at the altar and be anointed with simple olive oil from a bowl. The pastors made a sign of the cross on the foreheads of those who came, and offered a prayer for each. As I laid hands on the people who were directed to me by the ushers, I felt the power of God in the words and the anointing as they knelt and received. There are very few moments in a worship setting that can be as powerful as a healing service.

James 5 (Common English Bible)

13 If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. 14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 

This is where churches receive authority to offer healing services. James lays it right out: Call out the leaders. Pray. Anoint. Do it in God’s name.

15 Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. 

So here was my conundrum. If we all gathered and prayed from our collaborative faith for healing, surely the Lord will restore the person to health. That’s what it says, right? So what happens if healing doesn’t happen after a healing service?

My thoughts were immediately put to the test as a woman in her final days of terminal cancer was brought over to my side. Her husband pushed her wheelchair to the altar, and as I leaned over to anoint her and lay hands on her head, I realized she was wearing a wig. Of course she was. Chemo had stolen her hair many months before that. But that detail has remained in my memory for decades. I can still feel the surprise of that false hair under my fingers and palms.

Two days after the healing service, she died.

So what did that mean? Why wasn’t she healed? What happened to her anointing? Did our prayers not work?

A few days later, her husband sent us a note to thank us for the healing service. He said it was the first time his wife had been out of the house in over a year, and her first time back in the sanctuary since her diagnosis. He went on to thank us for allowing her to receive healing that night. When she got home that evening, she was filled with joy, peace, and hope in ways that she hadn’t felt in years. Her appetite was back and they shared a late night supper. She had confessed her sins at the altar, and knew exactly where she was going the minute the oil touched her forehead. Right before she passed two days later, she told her husband that she was finally healed.

Prayer had healed her. Hope had healed her. Jesus had healed her. Death had healed her.

17 Elijah was a person just like us. When he earnestly prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. 18 He prayed again, God sent rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

I am glad that this happened early in my ministry, as it taught me to never be afraid to boldly ask for healing in the name of Jesus from that point on. It also taught me that Jesus will ALWAYS heal….and it may not look anything like what you were expecting.

What aspect of your life needs healing? Remember that the prayer of the righteous person is POWERFUL.

Just Pray by Michelle Robertson

Teach Me

Posted on by Betsy

We are officially in the season of Lent. This 40-day time of solemn preparation for the celebration of Easter Sunday is often marked by “giving something up.” This is always a good practice for those of us who have slipped into a spiritual lethargy since last Lent, methinks! I encourage the plus/minus form of Lent-making. In other words, don’t just give something up, but add something new in its place.

This year I decided to teach a Lent Bible Study in my congregation. It is my own personal “adding to.” I know that the discipline of preparing for class each week will add to my own discipleship and shake me out of my complacency. Our first lesson is on prayer, and already God is working in my spirit to teach me things I need to learn about prayer.

So imagine my joy when Psalm 25 came along in today‘s lectionary. Not only is David’s psalm a prayer, but it also teaches us about prayer! Let’s find those teaching points together today.

Psalm 25 (New Revised Standard Version)

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
    do not let me be put to shame;
    do not let my enemies exult over me.
3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
    let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

We can’t enter a conversation with the Lord without lifting up our soul. This first sentence reminds us that we need to be deliberate in seeking and entering God’s presence. To lift up one’s soul is to expose everything we are dealing with in our hearts and minds to him. We enter a sacred chamber and wait, trusting God’s immediate presence. Through prevenient grace, we know that he is already in the chamber. We wait for OUR spirit to catch up with his presence.

4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all day long.

So often our prayers are mere lists of needs and wants. Indeed, God inclines his ear to hear our wailing, but David reminds us that if we pause our litany of woes long enough, we can also be taught and led into God’s ways and his truth. The difference is LISTENING. God gave us two ears and one mouth. They should be used proportionally in prayer. Speak once. Listen twice.

6 Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,
    for they have been from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
    according to your steadfast love remember me,
    for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!

Reminding God of his goodness is a psalmist’s trick to remind the reader of God’s mercy and steadfast love. When we remember those truths, our prayers are more honest and forthcoming. And remembering that God forgets our sins gives us permission to also forget them.

8 Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
    and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
    for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

The Psalmist ends with more references to instructing, teaching, and leading.

What are you learning about prayer today? How will your prayers during Lent be different than before? Being humble in your approach to God is the first step. Humility calls us to be listening learners rather than loud demanders.

May we all rejoice in practicing listening, and may we celebrate a Holy Lent this year.

Our Prayers Take Flight by Michelle Robertson

Through Fire and Water

Posted on by Betsy

There is a great debate among the faithful about the pandemic and God’s activity in it. Some people believe that God has brought this upon the earth as a corrective measure. The effect of the stay-at-home orders on the environment is cited to support this notion. As the air and the waters clear up, people in that camp point to the lessening of pollution (due to the fact that we aren’t driving and flying as much) as part of God’s purpose in “causing” the pandemic. They point to the plagues of the Old Testament to solidify their argument.

Others are in the camp of “God allows.” This perspective suggests that there are things that simply happen that God allows. In other words, God didn’t cause it, but has allowed a virus like this to sweep the globe, which has brought needed changes and is teaching us many important things. God has allowed this situation, which has brought us a cleansing of the environment. This notion encourages us to know that what he “allows” is within his control, and in his time, it will end.

Wherever you stand on this, or if you don’t care either way, it is good to know certain things about God’s activity in a disaster.

We can know that he is with us.

We can know that he has brought us through fire and water, and he will bring us through this.

We can know that even when he corrects us, he does so with mercy and love.

We can know that he brings us through the refining fires of testing to a rich fulfillment that only he can provide.

Listen to how the Psalmist puts it:

Psalm 66 (New King James)

Oh, bless our God, you peoples!
And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
9 Who keeps our soul among the living,
And does not allow our feet to be moved.


10 For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
11 You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
12 You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.

Our response, regardless of how we got here, should always be worship. Worship reminds us of who we are, and whose we are.

13 I will go into Your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay You my vows,
14 Which my lips have uttered
And my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals,
With the sweet aroma of rams;
I will offer bulls with goats. Selah

So if you are having a bad day/week/month, if you are worn out and ready for this pandemic to be OVER, remind yourself of all of the times that God has already rescued you. Can you name them?

Certainly God has heard us. And he always attends to the voice of our prayers.

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
And I will declare what He has done for my soul.
17 I cried to Him with my mouth,
And He was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
19 But certainly God has heard me;
He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,
Who has not turned away my prayer,
Nor His mercy from me!

God has not turned away. So let us learn everything from him that he is trying to teach us right now. His mercy is always ready to be given! Blessed be the Lord.

Blessed be God! By Margaret Brushwood