Legalized Prayer

My medical rotation this month has been with the sobering, yet eye-opening Child Protection Team at Spectrum Health. The doctor whom I have been working with is a specialist in child abuse cases. We see about 4 patients a day as each interview and physical exam lasts up to 2 hours. I have heard many heart-breaking stories and my naivety is definitely being eroded away - as unpleasant as it may be. Now, there are a great many things that I could share having spent a month listening to stories of neglect and abuse, but I felt the Lord say something to me with regard to the legal side of things.

See, the doctor I'm working with spends a good chuck of time in court as an expert witness testifying on behalf of the children she sees. Through my conversations with her, I have been a bit more educated in the legal aspects of such things. There are many "traps" that lawyers try to lay to discredit a witness or prove that they are not impartial. For example, the doc asked me, "Do you consider yourself a child advocate?" Perhaps the easy and natural response is, "Yeah, of course." However, if you say that in court, now you're no longer "impartial" and your testimony is invalid - the court would now assume that you don't care about truth or justice, just that the kid gets his way. Those who have learned how to play in this verbal "chess match" would see that they actually need to qualify their statements and be very specific (yet not too specific). A more appropriate response would be, "Insofar as I am a medical health care provider, it is within the expectations of my vocation that I would help to identify and remove those things and circumstances which cause harm to my patients, and add such things as would bring them health and safety." (I imagine a lawyer could even punch a hole in that, but you get the idea.)

Anyway, my revelation came while I was driving and thinking about this legal game. I began to think about prayer and I felt the Lord say, "You don't receive because you do not ask." I was like, "what does that have to do with law and lawyers?" The response I felt was that the Lord actually wants us to be praying and asking for the outrageous - not just because He loves to give us good gifts, but for legal purposes as well!

See, as heirs to the King we have a legal position to ask things from the Lord. When satan "appeals" and tries to convince the Lord to withhold from us, the Lord refers to the prayers of His children which have become a legal document_ Therefore, the more we ask for, the more legal right we have to receive and satan cannot appeal against the Lord's goodness. We actually secure our blessings and the changes in our times by the prayers and petitions that we submit to the Lord. Our prayers are valid, legally accepted "documents" in the courts of Heaven!

Now, I'm really not sure if that is all 100% biblically sound; it might not be. It was just an idea that came to me while I was thinking about our own court systems. I feel that it has motivated me to pray more and with more faith. I hope that it does for you as well.