What wings are to a bird and sails to a
ship, so is prayer to the soul.--Corrie Ten Boom
I recently found this Corrie Ten Boom quote hanging on a doctor's office wall. I’ve had many reminders
about prayer lately. We fix-it types tend to act first, pray later but God in
His wisdom continues to work on reversing that sequence in me.
As the bird flies, prayer wings us to a
new place away from our old fix it habits and places us in the God realm where
we trust Him to handle our challenges instead of us vainly exerting the effort
to do it ourselves. When we pray, we can release those heavy burdens to Him, the only one capable of
carrying them. And instead of focusing on the problem, we lift our eyes to the
Lord.
And as the sails help a ship to glide over
the deeps, prayer enables us to float atop the depths that threaten to drag us
to the bottom. The enemy likes nothing better than to come at us when we’re
already sagging and try to pull us under, but prayer keeps us sailing toward God.
Corrie Ten Boom is one of my personal
heroes. You may know that she and her family hid their Jewish friends in an attic to try and keep
them from being sent to concentration camps by the Nazis—a fate her entire
family would eventually face for their brave acts. Corrie was the only one of
her family to survive the camps. But upon liberation, she spent the rest of her
life teaching about the love and forgiveness of Jesus. I imagine the only way
she could have done that is by constant communication with the One who was with
her through all those difficulties.
The apostle Paul wrote his letter to the
people at Philippi, from what was likely a prison cell. But as Wycliffe noted,
Paul was “radiant amid the storm and stress of life.” He knew the power of
prayer, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”
(Philippians 4:6). The Message renders the verse, “Don’t fret or worry. Instead
of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers,
letting God know your concerns.”
So, let’s do that. Let’s let our concerns and worries be shaped into prayers. As I’m writing, the Lord is saying that to me. Right there with you, friends.