Rocks in a Backpack
Picture the scene.
You are at the store (or on the street, at a game, on a break at work—use your imagination). You see a friend who looks a bit off and ask them how they’re doing.
They first respond with the ubiquitous, “I’m fine.” But because you are their friend, you push in a bit and they then reach into their emotional backpack and show one or two of the rocks they are carrying. You hurt for them and tell them that…wait for it…”I’ll be praying for you.”
You mean it but just how do you pray? What, beyond relief of their burdens, might you ask God that will help them?
While bringing our hurting friend before the Father asking for mercy is always right and powerful, we can also lean into our friend’s life with requests that will, as answered, build that one up in new and significant ways. Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae gives us some clues.
This was a newer church trying to navigate both a dominant Roman culture as well as confronting some teachers bringing un-Jesus-like teachings into their group. The apostle spends most of the letter showcasing just who Christ was and is, and how to stand firm on those truths while other voices were trying to lead them away. But, he begins by praying for them.
Let’s look over Paul’s shoulder as he writes his prayers for these believers to see what we can learn.
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.
I love this prayer for its simplicity and authority. While many of my prayers can wander out in the puckerbrush, the progression here sketches a roadmap any of us can follow to swiftly and with power lift up our friend to the throne of God. And you can do your version of it as you go on your way.
First, Paul asks God that his friends enjoy complete knowledge of his will. How often have you wondered just what is God’s will? This is a great thing to ask God to give to your friend who is wandering in their pain and confused in what to do. Couple that to spiritual wisdom and understanding and paths forward emerge for them to follow. Ask the Father to lead well his troubled child, prompting wise moves by them starting now.
The prayer continues from that foundation to a challenge to continue walking worthy of what they know and in line with who they are: Honorable to God and helpful to community. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. Uncertain days cause the best among us to scramble and push, but this “ask” can usher in opportunities to live well in ways we never imagined. You and I know of people for whom trials built their lives in new and powerful ways. Your prayer is for them to keep moving forward.
This avenue of understanding God’s will leading to a more quality life that is fruitful, opens the door to growth and to know God better and better. I can sometimes fool myself into believing that I get to know God in the quiet places away from stress, but throughout the book, God masters in revealing himself in the storm, or the desert, or the battle. For any of us, that’s when we can’t see where to go, when God seems silent, or times of life-chaos.
Now, his prayer gets to the practical payoff when Paul writes, that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. And in the end, we pray for heads to pop up out of the dust-storm of circumstances for our friend to be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.
Strength, endurance, patience, and joy. The ability to stand and keep standing as they wait while not missing the goodness of life along the way that brings any believer to be thankful to God in the midst of what rocks fill one’s backpack.
Here’s a brief prayer of mine I keep stuffed in my mind when I commit to stand with a friend in need. Either right beside them or as I walk away these words help me help them.
Lord, I lift up my friend to you and ask to reveal your will to them in these days. Give them the wisdom they need to walk worthy of Jesus and live a fruitful life. Draw them closer than ever to you and give them your power to stand and to wait as long as it takes. In the meantime, fill them with joy that can only come from you.
Think about this passage in Colossians. Read it over a couple of times. Now, consider writing out your own brief prayer and keep it ready for the next time you get stopped in the store by a burdened friend.
Our prayers matter. Let’s make what we say to the Father meaningful.
Music for the Summer
K&C plus Kirk and Tori Together in the Summer
Jokes, not so good, but good for a chuckle…
Patient: "Doctor, doctor! My wife has lost her voice! How can I help her get it back?"
Doctor: "Try coming home at 3 in the morning."
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Nurse: Doctor! Doctor! There's an invisible man in the waiting room!
Doctor: Tell him I can't see him right now.
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Patient: Doctor! Doctor! Can I have second opinion?
Doctor: Of course, come back tomorrow!
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The young boy was spending a Sunday afternoon with his grandpa. Looking at pictures of his grandpa in his military uniform, the boy asked, "Grandpa, did you ever kill anyone in the war?"
"No champ, I never did."
"That's a good thing."
"You're telling me," began grandpa, "I was the cook!"