Wildflowers in the Father’s hands
By Sarah Jackson
Ottawa has a growing undercurrent of prayer. What is especially glorifying to God is that people from diverse streams are praying together.
As the prayer lead for a ministry that is encouraging teamwork between denominations, I get to be around a lot of praying. It gives me a unique vantage point to the prayer atmosphere in Ottawa.
The prayer cultures are broad—flamboyant to business-like, spontaneous to liturgical. Personality, experience, giftings, and circumstances make each person’s prayers unique. Yet, the challenge with united prayer is that eventually we are confronted with this question: What do I do when I’m uncomfortable with the way someone is praying?
I recently heard a preacher share a story that beautifully responds to this challenge.
What do I do when I’m uncomfortable with the way someone is praying?
His young son was enthusiastically gathering wild flowers to give his mother. He bounced up to his mom and thrust the bouquet into her hands. She received the child’s collection like a treasure. Although some of the flowers were upside down, some had roots still attached, and some were weeds, the disarray didn’t put her off in the slightest. She took the bouquet, discarded the parts that didn’t belong, and arranged it in a lovely vase. Then she placed them on the dining room table where they fulfilled their purpose: bringing honour to mom and beauty to the room.
The preacher explained that this is what God does with our prayers. Some are in disarray, others are ragged weeds, and some have roots trailing off the stem. But like a loving mom knows the heart behind her son’s gift, the Lord receives our imperfectly offered prayers and makes good come of them. It is no trouble for Him to do so.
God responds to our prayers because within the bouquet is something eternal that He can maximise.
I share this illustration with two applications: Individually, we can have confidence to offer our prayers to God. Our prayers can seem inadequate in a number of ways and at any stage of discipleship. Our prayers suffer from lack of faith, not measuring up to our ideals of persistence, impure motives, lack of knowledge of the appropriate scriptures, daydreaming, and the list goes on. God responds to our prayers because within the bouquet is something eternal that He can maximise.
The second application relates to the united prayer life of the citywide Church.
When we look at that mom receiving the bouquet and we remember how the Lord has to sort through all we think in our heart and say with our lips, we realize that our own bouquet is not exactly a Martha Stewart offering.
Together, we bring God a bouquet
The Romans 12:3 principle, “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought,” is a great help in a corporate prayer setting with multiple prayer cultures converging. Together, we bring God a bouquet and let Him sort the prayers to make them right side up, snip off the lagging roots, and leave out the weeds.
As united prayer increases in Ottawa across denominational, cultural, and generational lines, God will sort the messiness of all our imperfect prayers and answer with grace. He has been using such bouquets from the beginning of time.
Sarah Jackson is the lead for Pray Ottawa, which encourages teamwork between denominations. She works hard to increase the corporate and united prayer levels offered in Ottawa.
Similar Articles
“Booching the Gap” for addiction recovery
Doctors expect the COVID-19 restrictions to amplify issues of addiction and recovery. With limitations on how ministries can operate and fundraise, Carlington Booch is inviting Ottawa residents to “Booch the gap” at a […]
The source for The Wood Source
The business world sometimes has a reputation as being dog eat dog. Between shoddy jobs, poor service, cash-under-the-table, and questionable tax shelters, it can be rare to find a business you really trust. There are, however, shining examples of businesses, right here in Ottawa, strictly run on Kingdom principles […]
Ottawa Innercity Ministries celebrates God’s miraculous provision
After a disheartening move and years searching for a new location, Ottawa Innercity Ministries (OIM) has landed in the location of their dreams: back in their former home at 391 Gladstone. The ministry held an open house on October 16 to share the testimony of […]
Bringing faith to work
I often bring a friend or supporter on a walk through the Ottawa Mission. Many times on these occasions people have said to me, “You are so blessed to be able to come into a job like this every day.” They are right; I am. During these times, I often […]
A week in the Dominican with Health Teams International
Mahassen Ghobrial shares her experience serving the people of Cabarete, Dominican Republic, on a medical mission. In one week, their team of Christian healthcare professionals served 1432 patients, giving each one a chance to hear the gospel. […]
The white flag of victory
In the last year, 23-year-old Tobi Oluwole has gone from losing his job to becoming the C.E.O. of his own business. The ambitious young man is part of a team of Christian young people behind SRNDR Clothing (pronounced “surrender”)—a Christian clothing design business that challenges […]