There's a phrase that I see and hear all the time..."I'll pray for you."
I'm sure that most people mean well when they say it, however, I honestly doubt that they actually pray for the person that they said they would.
Is that cynical? Probably. But it is so much easier said than done.
We live in such an instant gratification society where people say something one minute and the next second they are on to something else. Perhaps telling someone that you'll pray for them is just a nice gesture to make the person needing prayer feel better. Or perhaps it just makes the person saying it feel better. I am not sure which is true.
On one of the social networking sites I watched this phrase throw out like candy at a parade. I chuckled as I watched each person try to "out do" the other with their "I'll pray for you" messages. It made me think that this phrase is thrown around as much as "Have a nice day!" and with as much sincerity as asking someone "How are you?" The truth being that most of us don't give a crap when we ask how someone is. Be honest...you know I'm right.
The great Methodist minister, Samuel Chadwick, once said, "The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayer-less religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray."
Perhaps that is why the modern day church seems so hypocritical and powerless...the church is not praying but only saying that it is.
So, if you are praying for me, you better get praying a little harder because it isn't working.
Be Well.
Bill
