Prayer & Coincidences

I think that everyone knows what a coincidence is. A technical definition would be that a coincidence occurs when any number of random and unrelated events occur together in such a way that something great and unexpected emerges. Implied in the understanding of a coincidence is that they are ‘accidental’ or ‘arbitrary’.

I am not sure if I believe that coincidences are purely accidental or arbitrary; I tend to believe that there may be a driving force behind some, if not all, instances of coincidence.

Let me go all Sheldon Cooper on your for a moment (if you do not know who he is, do not worry about it): it is a scientifically accepted fact that when natural processes are left on their own without any outside interference they tend to progress from a state of order to a state of disorder. In plain terms, a three year old boy left alone in his bedroom will always turn the bedroom from a state of ‘order’ into a state of ‘disorder’ unless impacted by an outside force (i.e. his parents). This basic premise forms the basis for the second law of thermodynamics and is known as the concept of entropy. This is why Sheldon Cooper describes Penny’s filthy apartment as a massive demonstration of entropy (again, if you do not know who these people are, its ok)

So, if we accept the idea that nature will tend to progress towards greater disorder rather than greater order when left on its own, how then do we explain a series of random events that actually produce something orderly, something productive or something great? How do we explain a coincidence?

I have been teaching on prayer at Emergency Ministries over the past month. I have challenged the students to begin to delve deeper in a life of prayer that pushes beyond simply pray for our meals and into the realm of praying for others and for us. I have challenged the students to expect to see answers to their prayers. To the skeptic an answer to prayer might be called a coincidence; however, when we pray we tend to see coincidences happen more often. Hmm…

Mandy and I experienced a prayerfully initiated coincidence this past week. Last Friday we were given a somewhat bad report at the doctor’s office; the baby seemed to be making signs like it was coming early and for that Mandy was placed on more strict bed rest. We prayed all weekend along with many others that this would be a full term birth without complications. At our follow-up appointment on Wednesday we discovered that the bad report from last Friday was misread by the nurse and things were much better than we had thought. In fact, Mandy’s order of strict bed rest was lifted and she is now back on reduced activities.

Was this a coincidence? If you have read this far you probably know how I feel about that.

Prayer moves the hand of God. Prayer reverses things in the natural even when it seems logically impossible. Prayer draws us closer to God and answers to prayer build our faith to pray for even greater things.

 

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16)

If You Want It…Go and Get It!

Lyrics from a song that I just heard recently say this: “…if you want it then go and get it…”. This is a song called “I Love Your Presence” that one of the music team members from Emergency Ministries shared with me a few weeks ago. It’s a shame that we didn’t use that song this past week because it summed up quite well what our guest speaker, Pastor Mark Colwell, shared with the students.

The Gospel of Mark records the story of a man named Jairus and an unnamed woman that was ill (commonly referred to as the woman with the issue of blood). Jairus was a well-respected man in the community and was a natural leader or trendsetter because of his position. The ill woman was an outcast because of her issue with blood; to bleed continually was to be unclean and this woman had been bleeding for 12 years. Enough said about that.

Jesus was a threat to Jairus’ authority because Jesus seemed to be presenting a spiritual message that overturned much of the Jewish legalism of the day. Therefore, when Jesus visited town Jairus would not pay much attention. Consequently, neither did the woman who had been bleeding for 12 year.

Something different happened one day; Jairus’ daughter was sick and dying and he had exhausted all the avenues that he knew of to make her well. And then Jesus came to town…there were rumors about the miracles that Jesus had done and Jairus thought that perhaps Jesus could help his daughter. In desperation he ran out to meet Jesus and plead with him to come heal his daughter. This was quite a statement because on Jesus’ other visits Jairus had likely seen him as a threat and not as an ally.

Jairus’ boldness in approaching Jesus inspired something else; the woman that had been bleeding for 12 years snuck up and touched Jesus’ clothes. Immediately she was healed from her issue of blood! Jesus turned around and said, “Who touched me?”. It was not enough that this woman had been healed by Jesus…what was most important is that she knew Jesus and had a relationship with him.

And all of this was possible simply because one man saw something he wanted and went after it.

The touch of Jesus is present and waiting for everyone. There is no one too ill, too bad, too stubborn, too prideful or too poor and depressed that Jesus cannot reach them. The challenge is this: if you want it, go and get it. It’s that simple.

Many people underestimate their influence on those around them. Many people think that if they choose to ignore God or refuse to open their lives to God it is only them that miss out. Imagine if Jairus had remained stubborn despite his daughter’s illness. Imagine if he had not acknowledged Jesus. Not only would his daughter have died and been buried…but the unnamed woman with the issue of blood would never have been inspired to reach out and touch Jesus to receive her healing and ultimately her relationship with Jesus.

If you want it, just go and get it. If you want to impact your friends and your school for Christ…go and get him in your life. The way you live for Christ will give permission and inspiration for those around you to live that way too!