It's been a trying time around Washington, DC and the Redskins' football camp. Most of us have heard the disturbing details about Skins Safety Sean Taylor, and the violent shooting that took his life early Tuesday morning. It's hard to make sense of such a tragedy. At only 24 years of age, Sean had so much to live for: His fiancee, his one-year old baby girl, his sports career. My condolences to the family and friends of Sean Taylor.
In addition to the shock, many concerned fans have expressed frustration and helplessness - wanting to ease his family's pain and burden, yet not knowing if there is anything they can do. I humbly suggest a moment of prayer.
After all, a prayer is no small thing, despite the fact that may of us treat it as such. Why do we spend so little time in prayer? Why is prayer one of the first things we neglect as we drift away from God? Many pastors have preached sermons condemning us for spending , on average, more than three hours a day in front of a television, while we pray less than 30 minutes a week. Although there is a need for such sermons, I have no intention of pointing out something for which you are probably already aware. It is my desire to encourage you, and to share with you a portion of what I have learned from my research on the power of prayer.
Dr. Elizabeth Targ did some very important work in her short lifetime. The psychiatrist, who died in 2002 at the age of 41, was a wonderful, groundbreaking researcher. The National Institutes of Health awarded her grants of $611,515 for one study; $823,346 for another. Targ was funded to study the therapeutic effects on AIDS and cancer patients. The presence of a compassionate person reciting soothing prayers at the bedside of a patient apparently has helped some people, if by nothing more than a placebo effect. But Targ went a step further. She investigated what she called "distant healing," in which those offering the prayers were far removed from the patients, who themselves were not even aware that prayers were being offered on their behalf. This may sound unreasonable, yet striking results were reported.
In a 1998 study, after selecting practicing healers from a number of religions - Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Indian Shamans - she supplied them with the first names, blood counts and photographs of 20 patients with advanced AIDS. For one hour a day, during a 10-week period, the healers concentrated their thoughts on the pictures of those patients, not on those of a control group of 20 other AIDS patients. According to Targ, the patients receiving prayers had fewer and less severe new illnesses, fewer doctor visits and hospitalizations, and were generally in better moods than those in the control group. The connection, Targ suggested, "could be actuated through the agency of God, consciousness, love, electrons or a combination."
But it is not necessary to search the findings of national experiments. We need only look as far as our places of worship to hear testimonials from the congregation on the awesome power of prayer. We've all heard stories of people suffering from illnesses who rid their bodies of disease, leaving their doctors baffled as to how their medical prognosis could be so off track. Many testify to being so grief stricken from the devastating loss of a loved one, that they found it hard to get out of bed each morning; to find the desire to go on with life. Prayer, many will tell you, got them over - the subject of one of my favorite gospel songs, "Somebody prayed for me" (see below)
Although we live in a high tech, modern age society, I believe that we can still go much further on our knees. We will never have a true appreciation of how powerful and effective our prayers are until we enter God's presence and He unfolds the completed story. At that time, we will see how people were saved and lives changed as a direct result of our prayers. So, let the prayers begin.
Somebody Prayed For Me
(Verse 1)
I had a few mountains had a few valleys
Thought that I would never turn to day
Couldn't see to find my way
Felt like I was gonna die
Couldn't take all the pain inside
Just when I thought it was over, God stepped right in
And answered your prayer
He was right there
Somebody
(Chorus)
Prayed for me (when I thought I couldn't make it)
Prayed for me (when I thought I couldn't take it)
Prayed for me (when I thought my life was over I'm glad)
I'm so glad they prayed
