From cataract surgery to spiritual maturity.
When I am teaching cataract surgery there are some techniques my residents are afraid of as too risky. Other surgical methods may not be known as helpful. Having been doing and teaching cataract surgery for nearly two decades I function surgically at a different maturity level. I desire to impart the little things that make a big difference, steps that the young surgeon can take under the umbrella of my confidence rather than theirs. When I lead them toward these steps it is the essence of mentoring.
Suppose I told you, “Resident so-and-so wants to do it the way they think is safest. They just won’t attempt the steps I am teaching them toward.” What will you think of their future surgical skills? Maybe they will stay safe; safe, but stunted. Opportunity for growth under guidance is there for the taking. If they won’t take it they remain at a level that may work but be missing advantages. Advantages held out to them.
Let us now roll back to what John the Apostle is telling us in 1 John 5:16. He said that we should pray that the sinning Christian might have life. He placed value on praying for such stumblers. Can you and I accept what he was implying here and get on with it? What he has learned from hindsight he has offered to us as foresight. We must pick up the tools he has laid on the table before us.
Will you? Will I? I hope so. You probably can think even now of a person who you are confident of their Jesus connection. You do not doubt their salvation but doubt their godliness. You see sin in them and are tweaked by it one way or another. Don’t ponder their deeds, but pray. Ask God to give them life.
Don’t put expiration dates on your prayers.
Some sins that others practice may not quickly stop. Neither should your prayers. We live in a results-oriented society, but real results may not gallop just so quickly. The shortcomings of others may lead slowly to death. Conviction, repentance, and a return to life may easily be a slow process as well. John said in the previous verses that God hears and answers prayers that are according to his will. I can assure you that prayer for the restorative process is according to God’s will. Believe that he hears; presume that John had seen God work in life after life, and then, just do it. Pray, don’t ponder. Persevere, don’t peter out. In the end, the thing that will peter out is the death-choices, the sin-styles of Christ-professors around you. That covers over a multitude of sins. Death is deadened and life sprouted.
When the prayer works, praise.
There may be a tendency to think that prayers which worked were things that would have happened anyway. That is Satan-thought. If Satan cannot get you to judge the sinning Christian around you, and he cannot get you to stop praying for the sins of others, maybe he can induce you to figure your prayers were irrelevant. If he can get you to that place is it not a great victory for him? By doing so he short-circuits your cycle of going to God. Satan will fight you every step of the way. He will take any victory he can get.
So, when a prayer is answered put it on the shelf in your mind. Put a magnet on your spiritual refrigerator. Post that note someplace so that you will remember it. Praise God when you see it and then immediately look for another opportunity. Don’t diminish what God has done, what your prayers were a part of, but boost it. When the prayer works, praise!
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