Here’s part 3 of my review on Six Prayers God Always Answers, by Mark Herringshaw and Jennifer Schuchmann.

Social justice is one of the “in things” in today’s culture, and rightly so. Part of the Gospel—while I would argue not the most important part—is showing the love of Christ to those around us. There is a built in meter within that tells us whether justice is being done—and with the Spirit inside guiding, we are given a higher, more holy insight.

“Stop the injustice,” we often breathe as an unspoken prayer as we watch the news each evening, or read the newspaper, or troll the news feeds online. When we cry out against how unfair life is, or how someone we know (maybe ourselves) has been mistreated, we are praying an instinctive prayer against the very injustice of life.

In terms of communication with the Father, however, our cries for justice must be tempered. Are we praying for justice, or rather judgment and revenge? At times, in our emotional indignation we fail to see the difference. There’s a Biblical principal in play of “judge not unless you be judged.” This is not a call to never judge (compare with God/His nature/His word), but rather a call to realize we will be judged by the same measure with which we choose to judge others. The authors point out:

“What if when we said ‘damn it’ or ‘damn you,’ we were actually inviting God to damn us? Perhaps we don’t really want justice if it means we get it ourselves as well.”

While we pray for justice, we must recognize that fallen man has a built in desire to hang on and see “justice” done at all costs—whether we are right or wrong. An untempered desire for justice is a distorted thing, and it twists us into a missphapen form hardly resembling a compassionate follower of Christ.

When we come to see justice through the eyes of God, we see that mercy is given not only in equal measure, but very often in the greater. When we are praying for justice, don’t block the instinctual prayers that reach your lips, but also learn to pray in addition the word of the song Hosanna: “Break my heart for what breaks Yours.”

“We’re never closer to Him than when we’re upset by the unrighteousness we see around us and we do something about it…As our desire for justice increases, so does our desire for God.”

Somewhat akin to these heart cries for justice, is the prayer of desperation. Life hits us like an 18-wheeler and we cry out, “God, please!” Life slams us and sends us careening out of control and our final grip on the end of the rope slips completely. In our time of need we cry out to God in a way that we might never have before, even though maybe we should have.

“Desperation forces us to overcome our inhibitions—we have nothing to lose.”

If you’re a regular church goer, you’ve seen the habits of the desperate prayer. When life is good, you might see them in fellowship every once in a while, but when the poo hits the fan their regular attendance to worship and fellowship becomes the very model of practice and procedure. They come early—all dressed up by the way—stay late, volunteer, attend special prayer meetings, come to small groups. Whatever it takes for God to pay attention and answer their desperate need. And when that need has been met, they disappear into the community and are rarely seen on a regular basis again.

Maybe our opinions of such folks shouldn’t be so harsh. Maybe, just maybe, God allows such desperate situations to occur in our lives so that He can better grab our attention. We are so blessed in the Western world, we are so rich, that even the very poor among us have so many distractions we sometimes never hear the voice of God. Remember, it’s hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, and we are a rich people.

“Sometimes things have to get desperate before we turn to God.”

The authors relate the story of the woman in Mark who had been bleeding for years. Ostrasized by her community, she heard Jesus was in town and went to see Him, desperate for healing. What did she do? Against all propriety, fighting her inhibitions, she reached out and touched the popular rabbi.

In this act, she risked it all. She had nothing left to lose, but what if she had touched Jesus’ robe and nothing had happened? What if she hadn’t been healed? She would have been all the more outcast for her audacity in touching a rabbi while in an unclean state.

She risked it all and her life was changed. Maybe that’s exactly what God was looking for.

Prayers for justice and prayers of desperation. Just two more built-in ways we communicate with our Father who desires above all else to have a relationship with us. There’s no formula to these kinds of prayers, because if there were, there would be no authenticity behind them.

Tomorrow, I’ll be returning to Six Prayers with a giveaway. Come back tomorrow for the details on how you can win your own copy of this great book.

book review, prayer, review

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