In The Presence Of God Through Prayer

Job 33:26 – Then he prays to God, and is accepted by him, he comes into his presence with joy, and God repays him for his righteousness.

Dorothy Roberts, spouse of former Moderator Earle Roberts, talked about her experience of prayer while recovering from an accident. She awoke with the feeling she should pray but was too weak to make the effort. A small voice seemed to say "Rest in me, you do not need to pray. Others around the world are doing it for you." "I felt suspended in an aura of love", she writes. "At that moment I discovered prayer is being in the presence of God."

And we can hold others in prayer before God, remembering them in their need, and they know. I've had people, time and again, who have said, "It felt good knowing you were praying for me." I know some wonder about the purpose of prayer in such circumstances, but I know that prayer is part of the healing — whether the healing of the heart or the healing of the world.

The Atlantic Ecumenical Council proclaimed a day of prayer and concern for the East Coast Fishery. I was interviewed by a reporter who asked time and again the same question: "But what are you going to do?"

"We are going to pray," I answered time and again.

The reporter left, still baffled by this answer but he wrote one of the best stories about the church I have ever read. Thanks!

Prayer: Lord there is a world out there today standing in the need of prayer. Help me not forget that, as the church, I have been called to hold before you people and places and predicaments. Amen.

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