By PPL Board Member Rev. Lowell Avery
Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
Psalm 27:1
While most of us could probably grow in the amount of time we devote to prayerful intercession, I believe all of us can become more effective in prayer, as we ask God to build this part of His household of faith. Do you remember what the Holy Spirit told the Church when He spoke through James 5:16b? He said, “The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.” (CEB) What an encouraging word from God! It reminds me of Jesus’ words to His disciples after the Last Supper, when He told them, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” Although, when I consider the way our struggle against abortion seems to be unending, such statements prompt me to ask, like the prophet Habakkuk, “How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear?” (Hab. 1:2)
I realize that there may be numerous good reasons God seems to be slow about granting our requests. I also learn from the Spirit that sometimes God’s reason has to do with us, His own people. Sometimes Jesus’ words are not abiding and having a righteous effect in our lives. Remember, Habakkuk knew that the horror his people were facing from the idolatrous Chaldeans was rooted in his own people’s idolatries. Also, remember:
Our Lord has a solution to our problem.
Immediately preceding James’ wonderful promise, the Spirit urges us to prepare for intercession this way: “For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” Or as Jesus had demonstrated after the Last Supper, wash each other’s feet, so that we have “clean feet” when we pray in His name. (John 14:14)
Without diving into the challenge of confessing our sins to each other, I simply want to urge you to consider this possibility:
If our faults are much deeper than we think or are willing to search out, then even our confession to God is shallow and probably does not get to the root of our trespasses and sins.
However, there is Good News! During that same conversation in the Upper Room, Jesus promised that He would send the Holy Spirit, who would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. That conviction includes those parts of this corrupt world still lurking in our hearts, as well, if we’re willing to let the Spirit our Comforter take us there. When the Spirit brings those un-dealt-with issues to our attention, we can confess and lay them at the foot of the Cross; then remember and rejoice that we are new creations in Christ and start following the Spirit’s lead in removing them from our lives.
Confessing our iniquities, ask God with renewed faith, clean “feet” and a pure heart to remove the scourge of abortion from the world. Let’s keep short accounts with both God and our brothers and sisters in Christ. And let’s humbly ask for big things from God, who is able.