The Prayer Shawl

Prayer is a powerful exercise, an open invitation by God to "approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). And prayer can be expressed also in physical ways - for example, through the "laying on of hands" (Mark 16:18) or the "anointing with oil" (James 5:14). But I've experienced one other type of "physical" expression of prayer, and I want to tell you a little about it.

My mother was teaching at a camp up in the north of New South Wales, and the church presented her with a very special gift. One of the church's intercessors had crocheted a colourful shawl, praying as she made it. The pastor and elders of the church then laid hands on that shawl and asked for the healing anointing of the Lord to come upon it. They gave it to my mother, who then gave it to me.

There is scriptural precedence for this. In Acts 19:11-12, we find this account:

"God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them."

We've experienced this before, in times past. We've had occasions where a person has not been able to make it to church, because of illness or distance, and so family members have brought a handkerchief, a towel or some other material. We then laid hands on the material, just as if we were laying hands directly on the person, and prayed for God's healing - and we saw God heal on many occasions using this unusual method.

This method has, of course, also been abused. There have been unscrupulous ministers who have laid hands on handkerchiefs, or on "holy oil", then sold it to make money "to support the ministry." Sadly, this will continue to happen. But this does not negate the fact that God, at times, uses such means.

What is happening? Is there something magical about the cloth? Absolutely not. Rather, it is a focal point of faith. It is simply a physical expression of the prayers of faith that have been offered up before the throne of grace.

There are many occasions in Scripture where a physical object is used to represent the intangible anointing of God. One example is the mantle of Elijah. In 2 Kings 2:1-14, we read the story of Elijah being taken into heaven. Elisha follows him, requesting "a double portion" of Elijah's anointing. Here is Elijah's response in 2 Kings 2:10:

"You have asked a difficult thing...yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours - otherwise not."

After crossing the Jordan, a fiery chariot separates Elijah from Elisha, and Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. In 2 Kings 2:13-14, we discover what happens next:

"[Elisha] picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. 'Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?' he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over."

What did the cloak of Elijah - his "mantle" - signify? It was the physical representation of Elijah's anointing - a tangible expression of the intangible.

In many ways, that's how I see the "prayer shawl" that's been given to me. It means nothing in itself, physically. But it is the physical representation of all the prayer and intercession that has been offered up, and is being offered up, on my behalf.

Over the last few days, I've experienced extremely severe pain - on my scale of 1 to 10, it's been an 8. When I experience this pain, all I can do is walk back and forth in my living room, praying. Sometimes the haze of pain becomes so great that I get dizzy, and have to sit down. At times like this, I'll usually take an extra Endone for "breakthrough pain", but when the pain is very bad, it doesn't help. That's when prayer is by far the best recourse.

But over the last few days, I've done something special. When I've been hit by the very bad pain, as we've been praying (Elena with me in the room, unless she's at work, and my parents with me over the phone), I've slipped the "prayer shawl" over my shoulders as I've been praying. And, amazing, amazing, the pain has dissipated! I've only experienced this two times so far, but two times is still remarkable! Two out of two!

So what I've begun doing is walking around the house with the prayer shawl over my shoulders. And when I go to bed, I spread the prayer shawl over my bed.

Now I share this with a note of caution. This prayer shawl is not a "magic item" that somehow brings about the healing. If we get into that kind of a mindset, we are practicing a form of sorcery, like using an incantation to conjure a magical result. It is as if we think we have a spiritual remote-control in our hands, and with the push of a button - *beep* - God acts on our behalf. But God doesn't work by remote control. He works not remotely, but intimately with us. We cannot stand at a distance and expect God to work on our behalf. We must come close.

This warning is important, because people have a tendency to rely on magic-like formulae in a desire to force God's hand. We can even treat a physical object that God has used to bring healing - like the Bronze Snake (see Numbers 21:4-9) - and make an idol of it (see 2 Kings 18:4).

Take a look at this example. Read 2 Kings 4:8-37.

Here we see the story of the death of the Shunammite woman's son. She came to Elisha and begged for his help. But note how this story unfolds:

• Elisha sees the Shunammite woman coming from a distance and sends his servant ahead to meet her, sensing that some is wrong (verses 25-26).




• The Shunammite falls as Elisha's feet in obvious anguish, and when Gehazi, the servant, tries to pull her off, Elisha says: "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why" (verse 27). Elisha knew something was wrong, but doesn't yet have a word from God. This is important to understand, for it teaches us an important lesson about how God works.




• Elisha then gives his servant these instructions: "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face" (verse 29). Remember, and this is important: Elijah did not yet have a word from God.




• Gehazi, the servant, does as Elisha has instructed, but it doesn't work. The boy is still dead (verse 31).




• Elisha personally goes to the house, but instead of doing the same - laying his staff on the boy - he begins to pray. He obviously is asking God for His directions. He then lays his own body on the boy's body - "mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands" (verses 32-34).




• The boy comes back to life (verse 35).

What do we learn from this story? We discover that God doesn't work according to pre-set formulas, but has specific wisdom for each and every situation (note Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-13). Because Elisha hadn't heard God's specific wisdom, he automatically fell back on the familiar. His staff represented God's anointing and authority (note Exodus 7:17-20; Exodus 14:16). And so he used what he knew God has used before, thinking that it would work as it had done before.

We today can fall into the same trap. When we think that we can use methods that have worked before, simply because they have worked before, we are not seeking the Lord for His specific guidance for the specific situation.

But when the first method failed, what did Elisha do? He prayed. He asked God for His directions. And then he obeyed, and the directions that God gave are very instructive. Elisha "got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands." I believe this is a beautiful picture of intercession. When we intercede for another, we are not trying to control things from a distance. We are laying upon the body..."mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands." And isn't that what Jesus did? In the greatest act of intercession this world has ever seen, Jesus was crucified upon the Cross, laying upon our dead body, as it were, "mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands." And he has called us, in ministry, to do the same.

That is what the prayer shawl represents for me. Not a magical "action-at-a-distance" device, but a physical representation of a woman's deep intercession. And that's what any physical object, prayed over, represents. It is lying on the body "mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands."

Don't go searching for a physical object to pray over. All that may be required is to obey James 5:14, which instructs you to call the elders of the church to pray for you and anoint you with oil (what is this "oil of anointing" except a physical representation of the intangible anointing of God?). But do pray for God's wisdom and specific guidance. If he directs you to do something like what this church did for me - which is, for me, not just a physical representation of the anointed intercession of this woman, but a physical representation of the love this church has for me as well - then so be it. But a word of advice for those doing the praying: Don't just "lay the staff" on the boy's face - lay yourself on the body (metaphorically speaking) - "mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands" - through true intercession and anointed prayer.