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June 2001 |
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Dear Friends in Christ, Prayer for others isn’t a duty. It’s a joy; a special opportunity to caress and be close to people we love. This fresh approach to intercession marks the opening words of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. No special, desperate need drove Paul to prayer. Instead Paul had cultivated the habit, whenever he thought of his dear friends in Philippi, of expressing the joyful feelings remembrance brings by offering up a prayer for them. What a simple, yet meaningful way for us to enrich our prayer lives. We can cultivate the habit, whenever we think of others, to give thanks and pray for them "with joy". But sometimes we think of prayer or other religious exercises as a last resort kind of thing. We pray when we’re desperate or when we are fearful for others. But Paul prayed with joy and with supreme confidence. We can have this same confidence when we pray for one another. Pray for others with joy and with total confidence that God is at work in their lives. Why then do we pray? We pray as an expression of love and we pray because we believe that God in some mysterious way uses our prayers to enrich that good work that He is committed to do in His children’s lives. Let us be means of God’s blessings in another’s life. I remember you all in my prayers. Yours Lovingly, Thomas Chandy Achen
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LECTIONARY
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