Little Prayers, Little God

A quotation from John Stott, reminding us not to pray for ourselves only, as it reinforces in our own minds a limited view of God, his power, and purposes:

I remember some years ago visiting a church incognito. I sat in the back row. I wonder who’s in the back row tonight. You know they often slip in there incognito. I’m not going to tell you the church. You won’t be able to identify it; it’s thousands of miles away from here. When we came to the pastoral prayer, it was led by a lay brother, because the pastor was on holiday. So he prayed that the pastor might have a good holiday. Well, that’s fine. Pastors should have good holidays. Second, he prayed for a lady member of the church who was about to give birth to a child that she might have a safe delivery, which is fine. Third, he prayed for another lady who was sick, and then it was over. That’s all there was. It took twenty seconds. I said to myself, it’s a village church with a village God. They have no interest in the world outside. There was no thinking about the poor, the oppressed, the refugees, the places of violence, world evangelization . . . .

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