I find myself praying often lately for health and protection for my family and myself. It has also been a praise continually on my lips that my immediate family has been hedged in with extraordinary goodness. At the moment we know of no cancer or heart failure. I know nothing of the anxiety that comes from others trying to hurt me or my family. While life has not always been perfect and rarely how I would have painted it myself, I am overwhelmed by the blessings I find in every corner of my life. Gods goodness has visited me and His ear and hands have been attentive to my fervent requests.
In all of this I find the Spirit leading me to pray a request that extends from my honest plea for health and protection. It is a universal human tendency that when comfort and safety are secured that the arms and legs of service begin to slow. When humans cease to worry about their daily food and are no longer concerned with the wolf outside their door, a sense of apathy is prevalent. My sense of urgency let alone my dependency on God wanes when there is nothing to keep my senses sharp. In this I find that the prayer for health and security can be damaging to the follower of Christ unless coupled with a further request. Jesus teaches us to ask for our daily bread and protection from evil. He also teaches us to request His Kingdom to come. It this request that protects against the apathy of a comfortable life.
Kingdoms are established through the necessity of conquest. One cannot inhabit another land without first reconciling its people to the order of the new Kingdom. In this we find the great commission of Jesus Christ, "go into all the world and make disciples." Health and protection are good gifts from a loving Father. However, these gifts were not meant to keep one home but to assure safety on the highways and byways that would normally be too dangerous to tread. My request for comfort without a sense of urgency on the battle field of the faith is useless and the very antithesis of the Gospel. Gods provision of health and safety is something to cause the heart to boundless praise. It must also be the prayer prayed when in constant movement towards the very gates of Hell.
