Getting Wrecked by and for God—for GoodSample

Accepting the Mess

What if nothing happens when we pray for someone? This is a real fear. It fools us into thinking it is up to us to make sure a person is touched miraculously. We are not responsible for the results; God is. Apart from Him we can do nothing. He is fine with handling the results, even when we think nothing happened. The least that happened is that the person experienced God’s love. I was taught an important truth by John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement: “It’s okay to fail.” We do not flunk if we fail. John himself learned this the hard way; he prayed for more than two hundred people over the course of many months before seeing a single person healed.

Will we fail? Yes, in the sense that we do not always see actual healing or change. Will we make mistakes? Lots of them. It keeps us humble, dependent on Jesus and aware: God does the work in all of us. The Father is better than any earthly father, and He is not bothered by our failure. He is delighted that we took a risk, stepped out in love to pray or care for someone, then trusted Him for the results. By the way, the Father Himself does not call any of this “failure.” He calls it faith. Faith that pleases Him.

Changing the world is a big task, even if I try to do it with Jesus. One morning, in that early dark before dawn, I was half awake thinking about the burden of “changing the world with Jesus” that day. I thought maybe I would just take a vacation from this vocation when I heard that gentle whisper of the Spirit. Don’t change the world with Jesus today.

What?

Instead, He continued, love the world today with Jesus.

Yes, that is not quite so measurable. Love can be difficult, but I will trust the Holy Spirit in me to fill me with overflowing love to love the world today in union with Jesus. If I use the word change, I feel too much pressure. But when something good does happen and change does occur, I take too much praise.

Pressure and praise. I will let Him change others because that is the business He is in. And maybe He is not even asking me to love “the world,” but for today, I can just “love the one”—the slow-moving one in front of me at Sam’s, the one fussy grandchild sitting at my table, the one driver cutting me off in traffic, the one I have been married to for almost fifty years and can take for granted. Yes, today I will just “love the one with Jesus.”

Ponder: What have been your experiences of praying for or ministering to others? 

Prayer: Holy Spirit, help me see those You are touching today, and empower me to partner with Your compassion and healing. Help me to accept the mess and trust You for the results.