Do you pray earnestly? By David Christenson
When I was asked that question at Bible study some months ago I had to answer “No” and I felt embarrassed and frustrated with that answer. We were visited that day by Glen Meldrum, an evangelist that was in town to hold some prayer meetings. Glen then dropped a bomb-shell on us, as if that first question wasn’t enough to knock us off our chairs. Glen told the group that he felt that almost all people pray for, at the most, about 5 minutes a day. I know I wanted to crawl under the table when he said that because I had to declare my guilt. Any of the guys who voiced their own experience said about the same thing and we all were kind of ashamed at that revelation.
What is the meaning of “earnestly” anyway? I looked it up on dictionary.com even though I already thought I knew what the definition would be. The result is:
serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous: an earnest worker.
showing depth and sincerity of feeling: earnest words; an earnest entreaty.
seriously important; demanding or receiving serious attention.
full seriousness, as of intention or purpose: to speak in earnest.
So, they all kind of are what I was expecting. But the first few words really catch my attention. “Serious in intention” and then a bit later we see “seriously zealous” and “showing depth and sincerity of feeling” and then “serious attention” comes our way. I already feel I need to raise my attention level to a new status when I pray with all of this.
Whether at that study session or another around the same time last summer, we talked about praying “earnestly” and looked up a few Bible passages. Some of these I will relate below:
Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith. ~ 1 Thessalonians 3:10
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. ~ Luke 22:44
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. ~ Acts 12:5
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. ~ Colossians 4:2-6
I would say I have prayed asking God to help fill the gaps in my faith but I wouldn’t have described it as praying “earnestly” in doing so. I don’t know about anybody else but I know I have never prayed so hard that I was sweating, “…his sweat became like great drops of blood…”. Wow…..that would be concentrating on putting yourself in touch with our Savior in a way that would be quite something. Then when Peter was in prison the church prayed for him, and did it “earnestly” too.
The Colossians passages really became the reason for this “Earnestly praying” piece. Some years ago when I was selling John Deere iron I met an interesting farmer. He was older than many of my customers, probably in his late 60s at the time. I lost track of him when I left John Deere in March of 2006 but I never forgot him. He lives a distance of about 90 miles away so I never had any interaction with him after I left John Deere. His wife died of cancer about 3 years ago and I neglected to even send a sympathy card. Then in September a couple of years ago I read an article on him in the Aberdeen American News daily newspaper that really made me sit up and notice, especially since the article came out about a month or so after Glen Meldrum opened my eyes about prayer.
Delbert had been stricken with cancer and was fighting it, doctoring for it when his wife died of cancer. He was going to a doctor in Sioux Falls and was prescribed a new more powerful medication to try to arrest the cancer he had as it was getting worse. He picked up the new medication when he went back home.
One nice day last spring I put off my plans to move a few more things from the Main Street Center office I have occupied since September of 2008 to my new office at my shop building. I decided I was going to take a drive to catch up to Delbert and bring him a copy of my book and just to catch up with him and talk some more after many years of no contact. I wanted to do this because that newspaper article was stunning to me at the time and I haven’t forgotten about it either. Delbert had started attending a different church after his wife died. He felt that his original church wasn’t doing anything for him in regard to his faith in those dark days after his wife of 59 years was gone. At his new church, when they found out about his cancer, some members asked him if he would come to some healing and praying meetings. So Delbert decided to go. And they were doing these meetings 2-3 times a month. After a few of the healing/praying meetings Delbert was due to go for his check-up in Sioux Falls South Dakota. After giving blood for the check-up he waited to meet with the doctor. When that finally happened, the doctor had no explanation whatsoever why Delbert’s cancer was completely GONE! Delbert told the doctor what he had been doing and that these church members were praying “earnestly” over him. They would put their hands on him and pray “earnestly” for an undetermined time. The doctor just kind of shook his head but Delbert told me his assistant smiled and nodded as he knew the truth. When Delbert told me this story this afternoon I said the assistant was a true believer and the doctor was not. Delbert agreed with that assessment. Delbert said that was about 2 years ago and that bottle of medication remains unopened in his bathroom cabinet. He has another check-up again soon and I told him I would add him to my prayers and I would do my best to pray “earnestly” for him.
Delbert knew about my own troubles over the years and he remembered the article in the paper about myself and my book a couple weeks ago. He said he would have me and my family in his “earnest” prayers.
Yup…..it was a really good day to travel to Delbert’s farm. A day that the Lord has made.
This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. ~ Psalm 118:24
About David Christenson: He is a lifelong resident of South Dakota, grew up on a farm north of Claremont and attended school in Amherst and Britton, graduating from Britton in 1977.
David married Gretchen Tisher in 1984. Gretchen is also a graduate of Britton and teaches math and drama at Britton-Hecla high school. David and Gretchen have two children. Zach is an engineer for Continental Ag in Norfolk, Nebraska and his wife Amanda is a nurse. Margo lives in Denver and works as a Marketing & Outreach coordinator for MyLifeLine.org, a cancer support not-for-profit entity.
David started a cow/calf operation in the 1980s and farmed on the family farm after his high school graduation until December of 1994 when he accepted a sales position at the John Deere store in Britton. David left the John Deere sales position in March of 2006 and became a licensed crop insurance agent in May of 2006. David also started a rental business in 2010 and remained in the cattle business until January of 2012.
David, age 55, has had some extraordinary circumstances in his life. He was run over by a farm tractor before age 6 and had three heart attacks a few months before turning 40. Then he suffered life threatening injuries a few months after turning 50 in a hit and run incident. David was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012 and skin cancer in 2014.
David started writing his recovery experiences on Facebook in December of 2009. Over the next four years those Facebook notes became what would become chapters in his book, “Why Are You Here?” which was published in December of 2013.
