A Group of people were on a boat and a great mountain stood in their way. Up out of the water this mountain arose, not letting them pass. They began to pray and pray and pray, but the mountain did not move. They asked God to remove the mountain and prayed more but still nothing. Then one of the persons, who was enlightened by the Holy Spirit said, “We should pray that the water would rise up over the mountain. Then we can float over it.” They begin to pray a different way, and the water rose and the boat was able to float over the mountain.
Rev. Atef shared this story when he spoke at the Downtown site of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in 2013. It was one of the images my small group talked about at greater length. We could ask ourselves how might we pray differently then we currently do. Yes, sometimes we are called to wait, but what if we are praying for something that is just not going to happen.
Sometimes we need to ask the Spirit how we should pray. How should we pray in light of this mountain in front of us? How should we live in light of this mountain standing in front of us?
What if you let go of how you think it should be removed and asked God? What if there is a different way to see the mountain and circumstances change?
We are so afraid sometimes to see things differently, but maybe that is us trying to control the situation. I do not have all this prayer stuff worked out, but what if you need to pray differently?
What do you think?