Yesterday I was meditating on Paul, and his difficulty in convincing Jewish people to recognize that their Messiah had come in the person of Jesus while arguing from their Scriptures. So, I wondered about how to change people. Arguments to the intellect are seldom successful.
Then, while studying Richard Foster’s “Celebration of Discipline,” I caught the sentence, “Prayer changes you.” And I thought, prayer changes others, too.
I’m not thinking about prayer as those short petitions to God that many people substitute for prayer. James says that you do not have your prayers answered because you don’t pray correctly. Prayer is actually work. I know, work is a bad word for many of you. But nothing is achieved without it.
Prayer and meditation practiced daily with devotion will change your life. I’ve witnessed it. I’ve seen it in others and myself. It will change your personality. It will change your orientation to life. It can change others. I have not only heard stories of people healed through prayer, I’ve also witnessed it. Not every time I’ve ever prayed, but sometimes.
Foster talks about a time when he was a pastor and was called to a house where there was a sick little girl. He went in to pray for her, and her little brother wanted to pray, too. He said OK. So they went into the room and closed the door. He said to the little boy, let’s imagine that Jesus is sitting in that other chair. We’ll see him come over to your sister and we’ll all put our hands on her and pray for her healing.
Prayer is like that. I have felt that I’m focusing the Holy Spirit on someone as I pray for them–often without words exactly, but more about a deep feeling of empathy and hope for their life. And things happen.
Try prayer in that way. Slow down and seek the presence of the Spirit. Don’t just rush to get your requests sent off to the big vending machine in the sky. Maybe you’ll change someone–and yourself in the process.
Faith Venture 
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