#123 – Prayer Nerds

There are a lot of different church nerds. I’ve already discussed PowerPoint Guy and Christian Music Guy. It’s easy to poke fun at church nerds because they can have a lot of different idiosyncrasies. PowerPoint Guy uses specific slide transitions depending upon which person of the Trinity is the focus of the lyrics. Christian Music Guy is undefeated at six degrees of TobyMac. There is one church nerd, though, that I won’t ever make fun of because it’s far too dangerous.

The prayer nerd.

First of all, I am in awe of prayer nerds because I have a hard time praying. So many people I know and respect are amazing prayer warriors; they’re like the Maximus of prayers. Unfortunately, when it comes to prayer, I’m like that dude standing in front of Maximus who wets himself. I wrestle with prayer, I always have, which is why I admire those to whom prayer comes so easily and naturally.

But along with that admiration, there’s also a little twinge of fear.

I have a friend who is like the Maximus, Obi-Wan, Captain Picard and Aragorn of prayer wrapped up in one. She’s amazing and whenever she says she’s praying for me I know that she means it. I’m so grateful for her prayers but it always scares me a little bit. Maybe the Spirit is prompting her to pray something in my life of which I’m not even aware. I’m pretty pig-headed and stubborn when it comes to God’s prompting so it’s entirely possible that my friend knows something about my own life that I don’t know. And that scares my stubborn heart.

My grandparents were also amazing prayers. They were missionaries for most of their lives and I can’t express how much they’ve influenced my faith. They have 10 grandchildren and, of the 10, they decided to pray that I would attend seminary and go into vocational ministry. I don’t know why they chose me but they followed the Spirit’s prompting and obediently prayed that prayer. They were total prayer nerds and their prayers for my life were answered. And that’s still a little scary.

In my better moments, though, I know that I shouldn’t be scared when someone is praying for me, especially a prayer nerd. For those of us who like to be in control of our lives, it can be scary to know that someone is praying for us. If that person cares about us, though, and is simply obeying the Spirit’s promptings, what do we have to fear?

We should welcome the prayers of those who listen and respond to the Holy Spirit, especially when we’re not listening as well as we could. So the next time a prayer nerd says that they’re praying for you, be sure to thank them and ask them to fill you in on anything the Spirit has told them.

How have the prayers of another person impacted your life?