By Hal Green
Pondering Prayer
Whenever you pray, you enter into what has been called “the cloud of God,” as God’s unseen Spirit silently descends upon you (Hebrews 12: 1-3). You secretly enter heaven’s eternal time and space, where you may come to know God directly with your soul, but not with your mind; where you may see God with your heart, but not with your eyes; where you may hear God with your soul, but not with your ears. In that mysterious cloud, you may also join and be joined by all the generations of Christians who have preceded you in the fulfillment of their faith, and who seek to encourage you to fight the good fight all the way to the end, when you will share with them a destiny in heaven.
This renders prayer all the richer with meaning. The truth is, Prayer and worship are going on in heaven and on earth at one and the same time, concurrently. That means we are not alone. The souls of dearly departed family members and friends are spiritually with us, as we are with them. That means our communion with God somehow includes our communion with them. We may sense, but cannot prove this great commonality between the living and the dead, but it is there nevertheless. Our common prayer and worship transcend time and space. We are sharing in a unity to be ours forever in heaven.
The power of these words hit me while offering the final prayer at the funeral of a saintly woman years ago. It was as if the curtain between heaven and earth briefly parted, permitting me to see with my spiritual eyes this woman surrounded by a loving cloud of witnesses. She smiled at me with a joy beyond language.
The writer of Hebrews beautifully describes this extraordinary connection between us and those who have gone before us, who have passed over into heaven and who seek to inspire us from there to join them:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3).
When I pray this Scripture, it always inspires me to continue moving forward with my life and calling from God. I seek to follow those who went before me, and who are there with me now in that heavenly cloud invisible, silently cheering me on. The continuation and consummation of the Christian faith is at stake every time one generation hands it off baton-like to the next generation. With that faith knowledge, we dare not grow weary or lose heart. Pray for the energy and heart of Jesus, of God with us, who is also God in us. He will not rest or grow weary; and in him, neither shall we.
(Hal Green, Ph.D., is author of Pray This Way to Connect with God. You can contact him at drhalgreen@gmail.com.)
