Last week I spent a couple days in Mt. Angel, Oregon for a personal retreat. That may seem odd to you if you only think of Mt. Angel as the home of Oktoberfest each year (a traditional German harvest festival celebrating the bounty of the earth and the goodness of creation). However, it is also home to a Benedictine Abbey and Monastery. The Benedictine Order is known for its focus on prayer, work, simplicity, hospitality, and service. Part of their service and hospitality is offered through creating places for people to come on retreat. As a side note: If you have never done a personal retreat – a day or two alone to rest and meet with God – I highly recommend it. Certainly seek some advice from others who have done a retreat and enlist people to be praying for your time, but how can you go wrong, making an intentional decision to step away from busyness and distractions to focus on God?

For this visit, I stayed at the Abbey, which sits high on a hill overlooking the valley below. All I could see for miles were fields, small clusters of homes, and trees that have probably lived two to three times as long as I have. In the Abbey garden, shrubs and flowers were enjoyed by many birds and the occasional rabbit or squirrel. Overall, a very tranquil place ... and a reminder of how big God is. I could only see a portion of His creation and it seemed vast – beyond my comprehension to imagine the whole of the universe. Sometimes I get stuck in my place in the world and become overwhelmed or consumed with the tyranny of the urgent and miss the big picture. But God has it all in hand – the small stuff – the big stuff – just as He had all the elements in mind when He created that beautiful valley in Mt. Angel.
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A friend recently reminded me of a verse from Exodus chapter 3. First, a bit of background to the chapter: The Israelites found themselves as slaves in Egypt, under harsh masters. Remembering the roots of their nation, they began crying out to God about their situation. Beginning in verse 7, we read God’s response in a conversation he had with Moses, an Israelite who would ultimately lead the people out of Egypt:

In this verse, we find a significant progression. “I have indeed seen.” The process begins with observation. There is some limited connection but observation by its nature is hands off. Next, “I have heard.” Another of the five senses is being engaged. It is more advanced observation but still hands off. Then, “I am concerned about their suffering.” Now there is a fundamental shift from external observation to internal action. God’s heart is moved towards His people and what they are experiencing. What an incredible picture of intimacy. God does not just sit in heaven, observing our lives in a disconnected way. He sees, hears, and is concerned. He is connected to us in a very personal way.

From the vantage point of looking over the valley at the Abbey, cars and houses seemed like toys placed across the landscape. It may have been easy to observe them – to see and hear – but they actually represented individuals and families, each of whom has a personal story. Some family stories are filled with joy, some incredible pain, and many somewhere in-between. While I did not know each story, God does. Part of the way He moves and shows concern is through His calling on individuals lives to reach out and serve. Our vision/desire as a ministry is to do just that and see a message of hope extended to all the people in the vastness of the Central Willamette Valley. For those seeking some hope or answer about their struggle with homosexuality to grasp the enormity of God and His power and the personal, intimate desire He has to relate with us – His personal creation. For those feeling isolated and lost in efforts to relate with friends or family members who have embraced homosexuality to find comfort from our great God. And for churches to wrestle with the incredible potency of the Gospel, and its ability to transform lives. It has the power to extend grace to everyone, even those who find themselves in the midst of extremely difficult issues.

In our hectic lives, it is easy to lose sight of these things. One of the employees of the Abbey had a blank look on his face when I said I came to Mt. Angel for some rest and renewal. For him, being in that pristine place simply involved labor and toil. And we can be the same way, because finding rest and renewal is not so much about the place (though it can help) as it is about our perspective.

There’s a song by Christy Nockels called “Hosanna.” She writes of a revival occurring in the world – her heart, passion, desire, and vision for it. Part of that is encapsulated in this phrase: “Break my heart for what is Yours.” As I heard it, I thought, “That’s a scary idea … to truly have a heart open to the hurts and pains God sees – it could be overwhelming …” Because as God sees the vast Willamette Valley, He sees and knows the story of each inhabitant – He sees … He hears … and He is concerned …”

Being in a beautiful place on a retreat, it was easy to have a vision for what God can do in our region. It can be harder when I return to day-to-day life, but keeping that in focus is what can accurately shape my understanding of God’s call. I pray you too will embrace God’s call on your life and that the desire expressed in Nichols’ song will be your prayer as well: “Open up my eyes to the things unseen – show me how to love like You have loved me.” And along the way, may you join with others in the vision God has laid before them as well.

by Duan Walker
originally published July 2008

It is with a certain amount of fear that I put pen to paper on the matter of prayer. I have been stretched in prayer lately, considering new and old forms of prayer and seeing where I fall short. In the midst of this growth I have also been considering how others might pray for friends, acquaintances, and loved ones who are struggling with homosexuality.

There are great men and women of prayer that have written eloquent books on the subject, yet sifting through those could take years. God’s own words to us in Scripture are rich, so I will stick mostly to them in answering how we can pray for someone in the lifestyle or for someone struggling with homosexual attractions.

First, I would like to comment on our mindset going into prayer. God instructs us to pray without ceasing. This is not just a matter of persevering when we don’t see how God is answering our prayers. It’s a matter of keeping a frame of mind that is always ready to pray, whether that is praying in the midst of doing the dishes, driving to work, writing a report, or reading the newspaper.

Second, we should not come to God expecting to “fix” someone else’s lifestyle through prayer. This does not discount the power of God to work in someone else’s life, but the focus should be on God doing His work, which often looks different than we might expect. Our first priority in praying for others should be that they will have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If they already have a relationship in Christ, the priority in prayer is still that they grow in that relationship. Let God work in each person in His own time and way through their relationship with Him.

For the actual act of prayer, one method of praying for another is following the Lord’s Prayer. In looking at the Scriptures surrounding the Lord’s Prayer, there are two simple guidelines that Jesus laid out for us. First, he taught humility. Right before giving the Lord’s Prayer in the book of Matthew, he warns against the hypocrisy of praying to get attention. Then, within the Lord’s Prayer, he models that we should pray for God’s will to be done, putting God’s will above our own. This, of course, includes surrendering when we think God should act, trusting His timing for His answers to prayer. In a sermon on Matthew, chapter 8, Martin Luther concludes, “Therefore faith prays in such a manner that it commits everything to the gracious will of God; it lets [God] determine whether it is conducive to his honor and to our benefit.” Second, Jesus explicitly taught perseverance. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus gives the example of a man knocking on a friend’s door asking for bread late at night. Though the friend did not want to get up, the persistent knocking got him to respond. How many of us want to give up after seeing no immediate change or expected result?

​The Lord's Prayer as found in Matthew 6:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. All prayer should intentionally glorify God. Before we begin praying for another person, we should remember who God is and give attention to praise.

Your kingdom come, your will be done. This is a time to invite God to work in that person’s life. Without assuming we know how it should look, we should pray that God’s will would be done in their life. In some ways, this will feel vague. This is because God has a plan that we are not privy to. We should be praying that his plans unfold how he wants them to, not how we want them to.

Give us this day our daily bread. A guiding question here is, “What does the person I am praying for need?” These are specific, concrete needs. The need may be monetary, medical, relational, or something else entirely. If this is for someone we know well, we’ll know more specifics. For an acquaintance, we may have to generalize a bit more. In both cases, we can pray in faith knowing that God will provide for each need.

Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. There are some questions we may want to bring before God in regard to our relationship with the person we are praying for. “Do I have something against the person I am praying for?” “Have I forgiven that person?” “Does that person know I have forgiven them?” “Have I acted wrongly toward them?” “Do I need to seek forgiveness from them.” Aside from these relationship concerns, we may be grieved by specific sinful acts in which the person is engaged. If this is the case, the best example I know of is Nehemiah. When he prays fervently for his nation’s sins, he includes himself in them, acknowledging that he and his people have collectively failed to keep God’s commandments. Nehemiah 1:4-7 reads,

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. We can pray that a person will not be tempted to sin. And in praying for the person struggling with homosexuality, we can pray specifically that the person will be protected from influences that lead them into homosexual behavior. More importantly, it helps focus us on God as the deliverer and Satan as the enemy. We are not delivering someone by our prayers. God is. We are not fighting people. God redeems people. It is on this note that the Lord’s Prayer ends.

In leaving the example of the Lord’s Prayer, I want to end with a thought from Oswald Chambers. In My Utmost for His Highest, he writes, “True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by his attitude toward that person or circumstance.” May you allow God’s heart to transform yours through prayer for others.