Talking Point - Student Development

Next week is Finals Week at Alaska Bible College. This reminds me to pray. I'm guessing I'm not alone!

But not all prayers are equal. In fact, there are different kinds of prayers. The disciples recognized this when they heard Jesus pray. After some quick comparisons with the usual mantras, the disciples asked, "Lord, teach us to pray!"

In the Bible we find prayers of petition, thanksgiving and praise. There are also distinctively pagan prayers. But that's not all! James gives us a category of prayer many overlook...the effective or fervent prayer. This is best understood as a prayer set on fire or energized (ἐνεργουμένη) by heaven. Without such prayers, I do not believe we would have the gospel in our land.

Now, I want to share with you a prayer that I think fits this category. It's a prayer that has deeply impacted my ministry. It's a prayer that challenges me. It offers more than good thinking; it blazes new trails in my heart! May the Lord give you the courage to pray this prayer, and the wisdom necessary to flesh it out.

Jonathan L Garland, VPSD

Prayer

"Disturb us Lord, when we are too well-pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to shore.

Disturb us Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life, having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity, and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb us Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery, where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love. This we ask in the name of our captain who is Jesus Christ."

~Sir Francis Drake