(By Stephen Rivero)
“Prayer is not so much about convincing God to do what we want God to do as it is about convincing ourselves to do what God wants us to do.” (Becoming The Answer To Our Prayers; Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove)
In the book “Becoming The Answer To Our Prayers,” Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove explain how prayer plays a big part of God’s Kingdom, especially when it’s followed by action. For example, as the body of Christ, we are also a family, but really we are a “dysfunctional family,” Shane states, “in which some children are starving while others have food stashed in their closets. Some of us are living on the street while others have empty rooms in our homes.” What kind of honor are we bringing to our family name by living like this? As a family we are supposed to help others that are in need, and the thing is that we don’t have to get in airplanes and go to other countries ‘cause the answer to our prayers to do God’s will could be around the corner from our own homes.
We are always too busy talking and not listening and obeying. We call ourselves Christians, but we don’t act like Christ. We say we love others but we don’t show that we truly do. We are called to be a community that is the answer to our request, and that would happened if we truly love our Father and we just tried to spend some time with Him.
One of Shane and Jonathan’s prayers goes like this: “Make your name holy, Father, by bringing your Kingdom here on earth.” This thought continues when they say, “Christian community is the gift of a life that is worthy of God’s name. Forgetting ourselves, we become the sort of people who hallow God’s name by how we live with one another.” We have to start acting like we are God’s children and use the authority that He has given us so we can do great things through Him and for His glory alone. Jesus always says, “The Kingdom of God is coming and has come”. If we are ready to believe it, what will be in the end is already available to us now in the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have to stop hiding ourselves in our churches and in our ungodly desires and start praying, listening, and obeying so the world would see how great our God is. We are the church and it’s time for us to pray like we are God’s so He could use us change the world around us.
Shane and Jonathan suggest that “we need to pray like everything depends on God and live like God has no other plan but the church. We are the ones God is waiting on. When we throw our hands up to our God and inquire, ‘why do you allow this injustice!?’, we need to be ready for God to toss the same question back to us.” In order to do all of this, we have to give our lives to seek the Kingdom, so we can go and be actual, legit, little Jesus’ (Christians) that blaze through this dark world and set it on fire with love from the Holy Spirit.
Because that is the Kingdom of God.
Amen!
For more information on the topic, read the book co-authored by Shane Claiborn and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove called “Becoming The Answer To Our Prayers”.