Prayer

“Lord, where your church is weak through comfort, strengthen us through the necessary trials. Where your church is invisible through fear, make your word known through the boldness of prophets and through the courage of ordinary people like us.”
Common prayer for ordinary radicals.

When I was reading this prayer I was struck with the connection of three words: “necessary” “trials” and “prayer”. Certainly, we love to connect prayer with trials. In fact, our trials usually provide short term improvement in our prayer life. During trials we readily connect “necessary” with “prayer”. Few of us argue against the need for prayer when we are in the midst of a trial. But, how seldom do we request trials in order to strengthen us. How often do we recognize the weakening affects of our own comfort. It doesn’t have to be comfort associated with a life of ease. We grow comfortable with our character, or the lack thereof. We grow comfortable with our lack of boldness when it comes to our testimony. We grow comfortable with our weakness in the face of temptation. As ironic as it sounds, we grow comfortable with our fears. These are the comforts that render the church invisible. Lord, strengthen us through necessary trials. This is our prayer.