Bonhoffer: Chapter 2

In chapter 2, Bonhoffer states that Christians praying for one another is very common. When Christians gather together to pray, we can intercede for one another and for our brothers and sisters outside of the prayer circle as well. From my understanding, Bonhoffer explains that when we spend time with one another in fellowship, it often leads to being upheld in prayer for one another naturally. When we pray for one another, words of criticism turn into intercession for help for one another. Bonhoffer states, 

“Prayer, even though it be free, will be determined by certain internal order. It is not a chaotic outburst of a human heart but the prayer of an inwardly ordered fellowship” (64). He goes on to explain that there is freedom in praying for one another, and not solely praying for ourselves. He encourages his readers to pray from our hearts, rather than our “moods which have nothing to do with spiritual life” (64).

All of these points that Bonhoffer makes sparked something in my heart while I was reading it. First, there is so much power in prayer for one another. I personally have felt the positive effects of simply asking a group of my friends to be praying about something that is going on in my life. For example, my husband, Aaron, is from Ontario, Canada, and he ran into some trouble at the boarder when he was getting ready to move to the U.S. It was two weeks before our wedding, and the border patrol officer was very obviously having a bad day and for various reasons that did not make sense, turned around and did not let him cross into the U.S. He called me in a panic, unsure of what to do and knowing that a lot of work needed to be done before our wedding day. I sent out a mass text message to all our close friends and family to be praying about this, as we knew very clearly that God wanted us to get married when we did (that’s a whole story in itself!), and this situation felt like an obvious attack from the enemy. Long story short, he went back into Canada, talked to a Canadian border patrol officer about the issue, and the officer checked his passport to see if anyone flagged it (which they did not), and advised him to turn back around and try going through the U.S. border and hope for a different officer. He did as he was advised, got a new officer as we had hoped for, and crossed the border with no issues at all. I firmly believe that this was because of all our friends and family interceding for us in prayer. We trusted that God’s plan was the best plan. This situation was completely out of our hands, as the border has its own (very interesting) way of working. In some ways it feels like your life is in the hands of this officer who does not know you. They have the power to turn you around for no reason at all. They do not care if your married or getting married to someone from a different country. All we could do was pray about it and trust Him, and that’s exactly what we did. Sometimes I wonder if the outcome would have been different if we didn’t choose to trust God’s plan. All I know is, I’m thankful we did, and I’m thankful for the people who stood behind us and interceded as well,