Hands

Prayer can seem a funny thing. We sit and speak…. sometimes we feel alone. The bronze heavens. Or our American idea of a prayer closet (and I have deep respect for those) can perpetuate the picture of a lone warrior.

 But prayer is fundamentally relational. There is no such thing as alone prayer.

In prayer, grasp the hand of the Holy Spirit who searches the mind of God and communicates to you, and groans with you in prayer.  

In prayer, feel the hands of Jesus clasping yours as he joins you in prayer and takes your prayers and offers them as his own, sanctified and acceptable in him before the burning Holy Father.

In prayer, take the hand of the willing Father who reaches out to you and hears you.

In prayer, you hold the hands of those who have gone before, the prayers of countless saints who echo the psalms, who have prayed the Lord’s prayer. Words echoed throughout generations. 

In prayer, you hold the hands of those to come as you pray for his kingdom to come, as you touch the future.

In prayer, your clasped hands hold up and touch the lives of those across the world, the persecuted church, brothers and sisters who need prayer, your neighbor across the street, those behind bars, those who reject you. But you can still touch them.

So pause and feel the warmth of the living God touching your hands, touching your prayers.