We don’t “just pray.” We don’t throw up our hands in a situation and say, “Well, all we can do now is pray.”

Prayer is our vocation. And Paul, in Romans 8:22-27, let’s us know that our prayer is not just for us. It is for the world. If we will get out of our own way, we can effectively pray for places like Ukraine and Israel and Gaza.

Paul is talking about our vocation not just to get through difficult times but to stand in prayer where the world is in pain so that God’s own spirit may be present, and intercede, right there. (NT Wright, Into the Heart of Romans)

God’s Spirit has come to dwell in the midst of the world by way of his followers. The world in which we live is in great pain. The Spirit is inhabiting that great pain with this world as we intercede for the world. We are the “tabernacle” of God’s presence in this world. We are a kingdom of priests, the place where heaven and earth meets so the Spirit has the opportunity to work.

This is our great vocation.

I am living my fullest in Christ when I get out of my own way (which is where I have my opinions about the Middle East) and simply ask the Lord to pray through me for the sake of the Middle East.

I am living my fullest in Christ when I get out of my own way in my opinions about immigration or my opinions about the opioid crisis or my opinions about violence in America, etc., and I allow the Spirit the pray through me for the sake of this world.

My life is at its fullest when I am sharing the world’s pain.

Lament will always be a part of the Christian life.

What an amazing vocation.