Unselfish Prayer
“Prayer changes things” is a cliché that we see on bumper stickers or coffee cups and usually apply to altering circumstances around us. We want to improve our lot in life or acquire something that seems otherwise unattainable, so we pray. For some, it becomes a “When all else fails, pray!” philosophy. But I believe one of God’s primary strategies for His emphasis on prayer is the change that prayer makes in us. Prayer changes me.
Too often our prayers, if reduced down to their essential content, would be “I want,” or “Give me,” or “I need.” In other words, “Please provide this or that.” It could be a health issue, a financial need, a family concern, or something going on at work. But prayer has several parts including worship, or adoration, confession of sin, giving of thanks and, of course, asking God, or supplication. Asking is how most of us tend to spend the bulk of our allocated prayer time. We’re pretty good at making certain kinds of requests of God. Some requests might be considered more mature than others.
If prayer changes us, the more selfish our prayers, the more selfish we will be. In Matthew 9, Jesus gives His disciples—and by extension, us—a very unselfish prayer to pray: “beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (vs. 38). On the surface, this prayer had nothing to do with them. He has pointed out that there was a great need for workers. The “harvest” represented the people who needed what Jesus had to offer. So Jesus asks them to pray an unselfish prayer: pray for workers. They couldn’t have known how quickly He intended that the prayer would change them.
At the beginning of the next chapter, Matthew 10, the same disciples Jesus has just told to pray for workers became the workers. It seems that no sooner has He told them to pray for workers to be sent, He is sending them! Be careful how you pray!
Prayers don’t have to be long and drawn out. Some people think the longer the prayer, the more mature or spiritual it appears. Not true. In fact, Jesus warned against simply using a lot of verbiage, “as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7). Often it is the shortest prayers that cannot only be the most effective, but reflect our level of maturity. They may only be two-word prayers like those listed above: “I want,” or “Give me,” or “I need,” or even “Help me!” But one of the most mature prayers in Scripture can also be said in just two words, “Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
The prophet Isaiah found himself transported into the throne room of God and describes the awesome experience, which quickly makes him aware of his own unworthiness and uncleanness before a holy God. He realizes that, “I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah. 6:5). One of the angels near the throne of God takes a burning coal and touches Isaiah’s lips, cleansing him, taking away his sin. Then Isaiah hears a famous question from God that has inspired tens of thousands of missionaries over the centuries “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” (vs. 8). Isaiah’s response is a prayer that can in essence be summarized in those two words, “Send me.” Just about every missionary I have met has prayed that brief, iconic prayer. It is a prayer of selfless self-sacrifice, not selfish self-focus. It is a prayer of maturity, not the typical prayer of a spiritual child.
Many times over the years, I’ve challenged our people, from the pulpit, to begin praying to be sent. That can be a scary prayer, especially if one really means it. As of this writing I find myself transitioning into a new ministry, traveling to faraway countries to train pastors. I must have practiced what I preached and I guess God took me seriously.
But God doesn’t have to send one to Africa, China, the Middle East or some other foreign land. There is plenty of “sending” to be done within the ministries that comprise what God has called us to do right at our own church. There are all kinds of “distressed, dispirited sheep without a shepherd” whom God has called us to reach in the greater Conejo Valley and our corner of Ventura County. Once we get past this pandemic, we can plan for plenty of room in our services and other ministries so that dozens more workers right at Living Oaks would have plenty to do! We need our people to pray for workers to be sent to kids’ ministry, small groups, men’s & women’s, parking, tech team, student ministry, security, care team, ushers, choir, and the list goes on! In the meantime, even in the pandemic, there are unique needs to be met and ministry to do. The harvest starts at home.
The most grown-up prayer you ever pray might be one of the shortest, but perhaps you need to be praying it every day: “Send me!” But as with Jesus’ disciples, it doesn’t stop with prayer; the next step is go. Once you start to pray, the doors of opportunity will be opening soon. Get ready to step through!
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” —Ephesians 3:21