Lip Service
Lip Service
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
James 5:16
Many of us know the last part of this verse by memory. But how many of us actually pray fervently? And not many of us are righteous, at least not in the eyes of the Lord. And confessing our faults, one to another - pride prevents that most of the time.
I hear it all the time, “I’ll pray for you” or “prayers coming your way” or something very close to both of those. It’s the Christian equivalent to thank you, yes ma’am or have a great day. Its a great sentiment that all-too-often lacks in follow-up. And even if follow-up occurs, it definitely lacks in longevity. It’s a nicety for sure, unfortunately it needs to be more than that.
I’m guilty. Among all the things I’ve told on myself about in these devotions, I’m guilty of not remembering who and what to pray for, unless it’s right in front of me. I used to keep a prayer journal. I use to make a list of prayer requests. And I used to get my oil changed regularly.
There are those people, like my friend Rob and Jon and my brother, that I know when they say they are going to pray - they pray. Fervently. They are prayer warriors. Warriors train. Warriors have battle plans. And warriors prepare. There are soldiers and warriors. What separates them is the mentality to never give up or give in. Warriors have a mindset that they will never be defeated.
My brother prayed for my salvation for over twenty years. And he even told me he was praying for me. Those prayers didn’t turn me to Christ - Christ turned me to Christ because of my brothers prayers. But because he was a warrior, and never gave up, neither did God. My brother is one of the greatest prayer warriors I know.
My grandmother used to say - “mean what you say, and say what you mean”. We have to be earnest in our desire and those have to be communicated in the exact same way. We can’t tell people we are going to pray for them because it’s the nice thing to say or it’s some form of Christianese. When we tell someone we are going to pray for them - we should be going to battle. We should be telling that person - “I’ve got this brother/sister”.
Many times people are gathered and prayers are organized publicly. To me, this is not how God intended it and it definitely and it definitely isn’t how Jesus did it.
I was good at giving lip service. Wanted some advice? You came to the right person. Whatever I though you wanted to hear - I told you exactly that. And that was wrong. I changed that about myself. And as hard as it is for people to hear the truth - the truth is what we should provide. We must admit when we are wrong. We must confess our sin to God and we must confess our sins to those we sin against. We must diligently, fervently and intently pray. We must let the Holy Spirit work in us to develop a righteous fruit. Only then will our prayers be proper in front of God.
We must look each other in the eyes and let them know and help them believe that our prayers for them are important and that we will be warriors for their concerns.
I would rather have two well-trained, well-prepared and well-equipped warriors go to battle for me, or with me, than a hundred who weren’t.
I have been guilty of being improperly prepared for spiritual battle or intercessory prayer. I’ve taken on so many requests that I scheduled prayers like I scheduled chores for my week. They quickly became calendar items and to-do checkboxes. I moved prayers to specific days and they became a routine rather than a strategic plan. They became another item on a list that I rushed to check off or that, sometimes, I didn’t even get to. Battles can only be won, if they are fought.
We can become so dependent on a task that we forget the importance of it. People deserve our diligence. They deserve our allegiance and our love. People deserve the best that they can get from us. And when it comes to prayers, they don’t deserve lip service.
David wrote many many Psalms about his conversations, pleadings and prayers with God. David was a devoted prayer warrior. He was in constant prayer with God. And God answered David’s prayers. Does this mean that God will answer every prayer? Yes it does. It just may not look like the way we want it to look. But God does answer prayer.
Commitments used to be sealed with handshakes and promises. Screw ups and do-overs were forgiven and people were helped and encouraged to do better. These were genuine.
Nowadays it’s commonplace to take advantage of someone or to take short cuts or to even swindle someone out of everything they own. Work is sloppy, people are lazy and words don’t hold their value anymore.
Christian’s must separate themselves from the herd. We are Gods children. And as such, we should behave that way. We have certain roles and responsibilities now and we need to take them seriously.
There is no time to jabber away niceties that don’t mean a thing. Christian’s will lose their value because they don’t value their Christianity. We must act like Christ.
When we tell someone we will pray for them, are we truly falling on our faces and doing battle? Are we humbling ourselves? Are we putting on the whole armor of God for righteousness sake? Or are we merely listening to ourselves talk?
God will hear our prayers. And God will know our hearts. Like David prayed - “Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:23-24
It is wicked to confess to pray for someone and not pray for them or to halfheartedly pray.
I write all of this as a reminder to myself. To remind me that when I pray, that I do so with conviction, not repetitive convincing. That I eagerly put myself at the feet of God. That I would pray, commune and meditate on how to better serve those who need me.
There is a battle coming that we must prepare for. We must be ready. We must stand ready as the body of Christ. We must mean what we say and say what we mean. When we tell someone we will pray for them or for someone else - it must always be the best prayer we can bring to God.
“if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Matthew 5:44-45
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
Matthew 6:6