The lady decided that since she smelled the smell on my clothes, she'd pray a prayer of deliverance for me. Her prayer went something like this as she laid her hands on me: "God, we ask in the name of Jesus that you deliver [what's your name again?] . . . Jon from this bondage that he's in. In the name of Jesus, we speak it into existence that cigarettes no longer be a part of his life."
After she finished, I felt awkward. I felt like I was supposed to be feeling something, but wasn't getting the right vibe. I thought it was a nice gesture, and I didn't want her to feel like she'd just wasted her time, but the truth was I wasn't picking up what she put down.
And that brings me to a point about prayer.
I've experienced several types of prayer in my life, and I'd like to briefly categorize a couple of them:
The hit and run prayer: This is the one where I'll be sitting at a coffee shop somewhere, and a stranger walks up awkwardly and decides that I need to be prayed for. After it's done, they leave, I'm weirded out, and we never see each other again.
The "I told you so" prayer: This is where the person praying makes it clear to the person being prayed for that they're obviously wrong or living in a way that doesn't agree with the one praying.
Lets face it, there are times when the timing is just a little off, or just a little misguided, or just a little weird. But, there's also times when prayer is effective, meaningful, and powerful.
And that's what happened to me last night.
As I was standing in a garage with three friends, it's become a common theme for us to pray for each other before we go home for the night. One of the guys who prayed for me mentioned in his prayer that a word came to the forefront of his mind. Simplicity.
As soon as he said that a word came to his mind, I was pretty sure it was going to get weird. But, as I listened on, I realized that this friend - who I hadn't talked to or seen for at least six months - was praying about the exact thing that I blogged about a couple days back.
When we finished, I asked my friend, "You read my blog right?" He said no, and I was like, "That's funny. That's exactly what I wrote about last night. I've been complicating everything about the Bible, trying to get smart. And, in the meantime, that childish wonder I had for so long just kind of disappeared. That's weird."
I learned two things last night:
1. Prophecy is not telling someone that their house is going to burn down in three weeks, and it's not about knowing when it's time to start storing up canned food and gas masks. It's about being a good listener, and paying attention to the stories beneath the stories. It's about noticing when people are crying for help below the surface, and then encouraging them and building them up - using words to breathe life and energy into someone who really needs it.
2. If my friend could pick that up from our conversation, then I can pick stuff like that up from the many conversations that I have throughout the day. I can listen for the stories beneath the stories - the subplots. There are hints, prompts, and cues that we give each other every day, letting other people know that we need hope and encouragement in specific areas. If we can pick up on these, we can breathe life and energy into areas in peoples' lives that need it.
Today's Action: Listen for the stories beneath the stories that the people around us share today. It's possible that an encouraging prayer is exactly what they need at that moment in time.
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