Sending Good Thoughts

I’ve done several posts on prayer lately. People are starved for it, to the point that even non-Christians have developed a secular alternative: “sending good thoughts.” A friend of mine and I joke about developing a thought receiver to catch these thoughts as they come in. We joke about it, but we are appreciative of the fact that, as in Psalm 19:1 – the heavens declare the glory of God – even people who have not accepted the Lord still can’t help mimicking parts of Christianity because at some level, they know it’s right. We are hard-wired to seek the supernatural – we inherently need to be part of “something bigger” – and we need to worship. We all do these things, it’s just that some of us aren’t directing these activities toward God.

As for Christians – far too many of us, including me – have a sloppy prayer life. I don’t have all the answers in this regard, but I do have a theory. Those of us with a sloppy prayer life just don’t love God enough to talk to Him regularly. We have different priorities. We don’t know Him that well, because we seldom read the letter he left us. The only way to deal with that is to just do it. We need to change our priorities.

Another problem with prayer is that we so often, after a discussion where someone has shared a need and we respond, “I’ll be praying for you,” then leave with the best intentions and then forget to pray. It is far better to pray with that person on the spot. It can be difficult to pray with someone that way. It can feel awkward and it takes practice. But it makes a world of difference. A friend of mine prayed with a business acquaintance in that way, and afterwards, he completely choked up and told my friend, “No one has ever done that for me.” It literally changed his life. We’ve become good friends with him, and he’s going to our church’s men’s retreat with The Man this weekend.

Finally, having prayed with someone on the spot like that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow up. Echo Prayer Manager is a free tool which is absolutely fabulous in that regard. Take a few minutes and check it out.