The Whatever Prayers

When the Holy Spirit came as wind and fire on the Day of Pentecost, it came to a gathering of people who had been devoting themselves to prayer.  Acts 1:14 says, "All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer..."  Jesus had told them to wait in the city until the power came and while they waited, they prayed.  Had there been any Methodist blood in them, they would have created a study committee to probe the reason for the waiting, but instead they elected to pray.  The praying thing is something about which the church of our day talks about a lot, but which still remains a difficult task.    

One of the things which makes it difficult is that so much of the praying of the church is result focused.  When the Jesus followers met during those days between Ascension and Pentecost, they simply devoted themselves to what seems to be a kind of non-directed prayer.  The only word they had to guide them was the one about waiting.  Their praying was more a whatever kind of prayer, or maybe even one of those "Thy will be done"  prayers.  The "'Thy will be done" prayers are always hard for the church and its leaders who have already figured out what God needs to do to lead the church forward.  

The pre-Pentecost believers were open to whatever it was that God was about to do.  They had no idea what to expect.  And, they could wait and pray in that space which was empty of their own agenda, their own desires, and the knowledge of God's plan.  They knew only that something was going to happen that God had planned and waiting for it was enough to keep them praying.  The church could greatly benefit from the kind of faith that prays the whatever prayers.