I have a few songs that if I never heard again, I would be fine:
"I've Got Friends in Low Places" by Garth - How many hotels have I been in while trying to sleep with this song playing in the bar downstairs?!!
"Pachelbel's Canon in D" - Every wedding and every music station in the doctor's office has used this song. Pachelbel's estate must be worth a zillion dollars with all the royalties.
"My Heart Will Go On" by Celine - I never saw the movie TITANIC and will never see it. So don't start. This song gives me major cringe.
Delete them. To think that those writers are getting royalties for those awful songs. It's a waste of hard-earned money. Okay. I'll stop ranting.
Things Christians say that they need to stop:
"Sending out prayers and wishes to you..."
Or....
"You're in my thoughts and hopes."
Vague. Bland. Unhelpful.
Don't send any prayers to me. I appreciate your wishes. It shows you care and that you think kind thoughts about me. I'm glad you have hopes for me now and then in the middle of your thoughts about what you're having for dinner or how disgusted you are with the weather.
But if you really love me? If you really care?
Tell me you'll get on your knees even for 60 seconds and plead that God will have mercy on me. Pray that He will shower me with grace and enable me to be the man God wants me to be.
Or pray the blessing that Aaron prayed, "Shawn, may the Lord bless and keep you; make His face to shine upon you and give you peace." But don't give me platitudes. Don't flatter me with affection that has no diligence behind it.
I'm not inferring you need to be a pro at prayer.
The apostle Paul is helpful with this very thing when he wrote,
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." (Ephesians 6:18a NIV)
There is room for all kinds of prayers and requests: childlike wonder, simple questions, pleading, cries, intercession, or an emergency "Help!" I also believe this includes praying with spiritual languages we don't comprehend.
What is clarifying is the next directive:
"With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." (Eph 6:18b)
When he says, "keep on praying for all the Lord's people", he is calling for perseverance and passion. Why does he remind us of this? Because of our tendency to give up, to lay it aside, to defer prayer in favor of "thoughts and wishes." Or because it takes faith and effort. Circumstances and the battle in the mind have a way of numbing us to the power of prayer. Voices that say, "It doesn't matter. God is going to do what He's going to do." Or even worse: "Everything happens for a reason."
Yes, God is sovereign. His ultimate purposes will not be derailed. But as followers of Jesus, we are partners in intercession. When we stay alert to this and persevere, we are joining in the work of the Holy Spirit who "prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words." (Romans 8:26 NLT).
