The Power of Prayer

Yesterday I wrote about the proper position of women in the church, at least, according to Saint Paul. It occurred to me last night that some people object to Paul’s writings (particularly with regard to women) on the grounds that “Paul had a problem.” Indeed, in 2 Corinthians 12, starting at verse 7, Paul tells us that he had a thorn in the flesh, and that he had prayed that God would remove the thorn. He goes on to tell us that the answer that he got from God was that the “thorn” was good for Paul, it helped him stay humble. It never tells us what the situation was that Paul prayed about: Some say that it was that Paul hated women; others that Paul wanted desperately to be married, but knew that he couldn’t do what God had called him to do as a married man. I don’t know what it was, I think if it were important, then Paul would have written it down—God would have compelled him to write it down. I also think that if his thorn in the flesh interfered with Paul writing down what God wanted written down, then God would have removed it, and found some other way to reinforce Paul’s humility. Keep in mind that, of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament, Paul wrote Romans, First and Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews. Yes, I know that some say Paul probably didn’t write Hebrews, but, in any case, the man wrote either thirteen or fourteen out of twenty-seven books in the New Testament. If we are going to discount his writings, without actually knowing what his problem was, shouldn’t we remove all of his writings from the Bible? Let’s face it, people who attack Paul’s character really just want to cherrypick the Scriptures they want to believe. The Bible is not a cafeteria: either you believe it, or you don’t. Either you believe that God directed the writing and the compiling of it, or you don’t. God could certainly have weeded out anything that slipped into the original edition that shouldn’t have been there.
Paul praying about his problem reminds me of Daniel praying to God, knowing that there was a Babylonian law that any person who petitioned anyone other than Darius King should be put to death. Daniel surely didn’t know what the outcome of that would be, but he did what he believed he needed to do, even if the law said he shouldn’t. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t recommend disobeying the law of the land, but, when the law tries to come between you and God, then you are justified in disobeying the law (don’t misunderstand me, I know that there are some people that do bad things and use religious belief to justify that, such as bombing abortion clinics, that’s just plain wrong). I think that it’s important to note that Daniel, after he became aware of the new law, prayed three times a day, as he did before. In other words, he didn’t start praying three times a day because of the law; he continued his normal relationship with God in spite of the law.
Some people have objected to the account of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane. If He was God manifest in the flesh, then whom was He praying to? Himself? Keep in mind that in everything that He did in the flesh, Jesus set an example or the rest of us fleshly men to follow. If He hadn’t prayed in the garden, then some people would use that as an excuse not to pray: “Well, I never read in the Bible where Jesus prayed, so I don’t have to pray.” That’s kind of a silly excuse, but there are a lot of silly people. Also, the Scriptures tell us that all flesh needs to come to God. Some men refuse, I understand that, but all men should. So Jesus, in the flesh, prayed to God in the Spirit. In the process, He taught us the importance of putting God’s will first. Keep in mind that, God manifest in the flesh would have to deal with the flesh, and His flesh didn’t want to die, even though His Spirit understood, and was willing, to make that sacrifice for you and me.