April 11, 2008
How Are You Praying Today?
by Lydia Rule, RTF Staff Writer
As I was reading my devotions this morning, I came across a chapter in the Bible that I had heard preached on many times. I started to read it not expecting to gain any new insights since I had heard the story before.
But I was wrong.
As I continued reading Mark chapter five’s account of Jesus healing a lunatic who lived among tombstones, two verses in particular caught my attention:
Mark 5:17-18 And they began to pray him (Jesus) to depart out of their coasts.
And when he (Jesus) was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil (the lunatic) prayed him that he might be with him.
Right after Jesus healed the town lunatic, the townspeople wanted Jesus to leave! The Bible says these people wanted Jesus to leave so badly, that they prayed or begged him to depart. They didn’t want Jesus staying around—if Jesus could transform a lunatic and heal him, then what could Jesus have done in the lives of the “normal” townspeople?? By praying that Jesus would leave them alone, the townspeople missed out on the greatest blessing of all.
And yet, in the very next verse, the man who used to be the town lunatic prays that he can stay with Jesus.
The townspeople’s definition of “prayer” was to push Jesus away. The lunatic’s definition of “prayer” was to be close to Jesus.
Sometimes we do the same thing today. We push Jesus away because his ways are not what we want to follow. But in the end, we look like the lunatic for rejecting Jesus’ will for our lives.
How are you praying today? Are you asking God to work in your life or to leave you alone to make your own choices? God gives us the choice to ask Him into our lives or to reject Him— what will you choose?
Bio: Lydia Rule is avid writer who has been published over fifty times. She currently is working on finishing her B.A. in English. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, collecting geodes, canoeing, and playing ping-pong
