All prayers go directly to God’s listening heart, regardless of whether they’re whispered, written, spoken in church before the congregation, or breathed silently through the chaos of our mind.
Praying is the human way of speaking deep concerns, needs, hopes, and dreams, or of outlining carefully-triaged lists of requests. We know that our access is immediate and personal, and that God’s response is the same.
Sometimes we feel better about the prayer when we can see it scribbled on a sheet of paper and placed where others will read the words and relay the thought to God for us, amplifying our prayer with the strength of their own love for Him.
This is demonstrated daily at Adventist Health Portland where heart-felt appeals for Divine intervention join paragraphs of thanksgiving in the slots of the hospital’s “Prayer Walls.” The walls are crafted of polished wood, simply designed to provide tiny niches where folded papers can safely become part of the day’s prayer chorus.
Prayer Warriors guard the Prayer Walls, regularly extracting the slips of paper and repeating the prayers so God will hear a “rush of mighty voices” from the hospital.
Some of the prayers are deep and specific, pleading for healing of Grandma’s cancer or a child’s broken limb. Some are etched with sadness, others glorious with thanksgiving. A few are bold, the word “Help” scrawled large with a black Sharpie. All are read, prayed and re-prayed, by Prayer Warriors whose hearts hear and whose voices ache with compassion.
Consider the words of James 5: 13-16 Common English Bible...
13 If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. 14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.
