How? I don't know. I Nike... er... I just do it. God reminds me to pray for things I need to pray for when I need to pray for them. Like the Freshley Jamaica mission trip: I'm trusting God to remind me every day to pray for the people going on the trip, for the people who will be receiving us in Jamaica and hearing from us/receiving the benefits of the service projects we do, and that the Holy Spirit will move both in us and in the Jamaicans over the course of the week while we're there. Last semester I prayed every day for my friend Sarah, who was on a mission trip in Cameroon. I have a prayer card, an index card with different prayer requests written on it, but it doesn't seem to catch my attention very well. Even when I use it as a bookmark in my Bible, seeing it every time I read my Bible makes me start ignoring it. So all I can do is rely on God to remind me to pray and to tell me what to pray for.
For a while, I would walk halfway across campus to get to my classes last semester, and every time I went outside to walk (to class, to the dining hall, wherever), the scenery and the sensation of going for a long walk triggered something in me that reminded me to pray. But prayer usually isn't something I need a conscious reminder for.
Now the second question. (What's with all these two-part questions? I thought I was supposed to answer one question each day. The questions aren't even related...) Healings are real. They happen. God does them. People can't heal people unless God empowers them to. And as for speaking in tongues, that also happens. It happened in the Bible; it happens now. Someone is probably speaking in tongues in Morocco right now. But it only happens when God enables someone to do it. It's not every day that you leave your house fluently speaking a language you've never heard before.
What exactly do you mean by "praying in tongues," though? I've heard stories of people praying in an unknown language that is thought to have been the language of the Holy Spirit. Like that? Well, I believe in that too. But only if God sees it necessary or useful for His purposes at a given place and time. I haven't heard of enough cases of praying in tongues to believe that it's something God uses often.
—————————
Update (8/3/11): Yes, I believe in praying in tongues. After talking to someone in the Wesley Foundation about it this past year, God taught me my "prayer language," which I use every now and then. For me, it's something that can be switched on and off, but I know that there are cases where it just happens as the Spirit leads. To see my full thoughts on praying in tongues, check out my Authority and Gifts post.
No comments:
Post a Comment