Praying for Our City

Last night a group from our church gathered at the Myriad Gardens in downtown Oklahoma City and then spread across the city on a Prayer Walk. I had never done one of these before. Our assignment took us to the south side of downtown. My wife and I and our 7-year-old son spent half an hour conversing with God as we walked. We didn't talk to each other. We simply prayed. And walked. And watched. And listened.

When we returned to the Gardens we met up with the others in our group and shared what had happened. It was a sweet time. We all agreed that there was something about walking through our city and taking in the sights that increased our burden for the people here. We all agreed that this is something we need to do on a regular basis. I hope you will join us next time.

As we walked past the downtown Goodwill and the Salvation Army I kept thinking to myself about how hesitant the Church is to go into the least-desirable areas of our cities. I felt the uncomfortableness of walking my family past the homeless and the down-and-out. And I knew that this is where Jesus would be.

We aim to help with the needs of these people. But tonight we were there for one specific purpose: prayer. I suppose we could feed the hungry and house the homeless without God. But our aim goes deeper than that. And what we are here to do in this city is impossible without God.

I was reminded once again of how easy it is for us to neglect the spiritual discipline of prayer. We almost feel like when we pray we are not doing enough. But that's the point. When we pray we are expressing our total dependence on God, acknowledging that only he can accomplish what he has put us here to do.

How can we be used by God to bring real change to Oklahoma City? Among other things, don't forget to pray.