·
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of
the age” (Matthew 28:20).
·
“…even the Spirit of truth… You know him, for He
dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).
·
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and
that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
·
“It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives
in me” (Galatians 2:20).
·
“By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard
the good deposit entrusted to you” (2 Timothy 1:14).
Granted,
there are a couple times in Scripture where Paul says, “The Lord be with you”
(2 Thessalonians 3:16) or “The Lord with your spirit” (2 Timothy 4:22), but I
would take these more as a word of blessing (benediction) than as a prayer
request. More often, Paul blesses the readers with “grace be with you” or “peace
be with you.”
What exactly
is it we’re hoping for when we pray “Be with Aunt Margaret”? I would suggest a
few things we can pray that are more specific and more scriptural.
·
Give peace and comfort to John in the hospital
and heal this infection quickly.
·
Protect Bill as he travels and keep him alert on
the roads.
·
Remind Margaret that You are with her as she
mourns and bring friends alongside her.
·
Encourage Sam and let him know he is loved by You
and by his family.
·
Bring Sue to a saving knowledge of Your love and
grace.
I know when we’re
praying, especially in public, it is hard to come up with the right words to
convey all our desires for a person. So “be with” has become a catch-all phrase
to fill the gap (and “bless” is right behind that in usage). I’m not sure how
we can recognize answers to prayer if all we pray are vague generalities. But
if we pray specifically and scripturally, it should become more evident how God
is working to answer those prayers. It’s a bit like writing a strategic plan
(something we’ve spent months on at our office). If a goal is not specific and measurable,
how do you know if/when you’ve reached it?
One of the
other comments Hybels made in his sermon series is that he finds it hard to
concentrate on prayer unless he writes it out longhand. That’s something I’ve
started doing recently for some of my prayers. I’ve been reading through the
Psalms and when a verse catches my attention I write it down and then write a
prayer based on the thoughts triggered by it. That’s not a substitute for
praying on the go as needs come to mind, but I find that I am more likely to
include praise and thanksgiving if I’m taking the time to write out my prayers.
I suspect we
all need help in our prayer lives, and that’s probably why so many people won’t
pray out loud. No matter how verbally adept we may or may not be, we can take
comfort in the fact that “we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the
Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans
8:26).
