Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
GALATIANS 6:1-2 | My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Not only human frailty, but also human sensitivity makes healing work vital. We have exquisite powers to empathize and to connect and so to experience the brokenness of the world. We sense loneliness, and we feel anger in others. We can pick up signals of distress, signs of confusion. The downcast eye, the tremulous voice, the awkward silence, the involuntary movement—all signal dis-ease and a need for healing.
Some healing comes directly through prayer. C.S. Lewis insisted there were two kinds of casualty. Things we marshal our energies to do and accomplish directly, like weeding the garden. And another category where we request God’s help through prayer. Prayer is not the weaker but the stronger kind of casualty. It works regardless of space and time! But God retains discretion over it because you and I are limited in knowledge and love.
Are you sensitive? Do you pray over the signs you get from others?
What do you make of Lewis’ contention about prayer?
