Spiritual Sunday: Praying Hard Enough

Is it possible to pray harder for something and it will come to pass? Can a quick prayer in passing have just as much weight as lying prostrate on the ground begging God to assist us in our times of crisis? Does prayer require us to meditate for several minutes on a petition or can I simply ask God to be with us and with those who need our prayers? The Bible tells to pray without ceasing, so what exactly does this mean? Are we praying hard enough if we turn every thing we do into a prayer?

These questions of prayer come up when I think of my father-in-law who is very sick with cancer. He is right in the midst of chemo treatments right now and has a whole host of complications to go with those treatments. I suppose those who have experienced chemo treatments firsthand can understand side effects from them. He is currently in the hospital because he fell last week and couldn’t get back up since the chemo has left him so weak. My mom-in-law was unable to get him back to his chair, so they called an ambulance who took him to the hospital. In the hospital, they found his blood pressure to be dangerously low and other levels such as his creatine were dangerously high.

After spending nearly a week in ICU, they finally moved him to his own room, so he seems to be getting better. During this entire ordeal, I have been praying a great deal for him, my mother-in-law, and all of us to be able to help in any way possible. When I hear that he seems to be getting better, I feel relieved and feel God answered our prayers. Then I wonder. I don’t think I prayed hard enough. How does one pray hard enough?

Another family in our town just lost their patriarch this last week to heart complications. I know every member of that family prayed hard for his recovery, but he still died. Is it possible that there are degrees of praying, and God listens to some prayers more than others? Or maybe certain prayers just aren’t meant to be answered the way we want. Is it really possible to pray harder or do we just present our petitions and believe that God will take care of it for us?

As I ponder these questions, I remember the Holy Spirit helps us to pray, so perhaps we don’t really need to understand the mystery of prayer. Perhaps we just do our best and have the faith the Holy Spirit will take it the rest of the way.