40 Acts - Share, Pray, Like

"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7 (NLT)

I am a Social Media Scroll.

Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t say troll, the type who takes to twitter to harass and abuse (nor the small pink-haired plastic toy). An SMS is someone who spends time scrolling through timelines with no purpose, eyes glazed over, with about as much interest as a vegan at McDonald’s. Facebook is merely an extended photo album and Twitter an opportunity to catch the latest headlines and top hashtags. I only read the first few lines of a blog post and even 140 characters often pushes my reading limit (don’t even get me started on the ‘continue reading’ button).

To be honest, most of the time I simply haven’t got anything witty, intelligent or groundbreaking to say. And, when the world seems to be heading to hell in a hashtag, I don’t even know how to respond. However, I often forget that I have a much greater weapon than any tweet or blog post. I have the most powerful weapon in any arsenal, the weapon of prayer.

Which leads me to today’s challenge, to pray for your news feed.

Here’s the idea: as you scroll, don’t simply like, favourite, moan or troll. Stop and engage with the situation in a powerful way; pray.

There have been many debates as to whether engagement on social media makes any difference, whether endless memes and charity hashtags actually change the world. But one thing we know for certain; prayer works. And this isn’t just voicing stuff for our own benefit, a therapeutic announcement to get stuff of our chest. Jesus tells us that when we pray, God answers (Matthew 7:7); Paul says that Jesus himself sits on the right hand of the Father, nudging him on our behalf (Romans 8:34).

So why not give it a go? Pray as news breaks, as people moan; pray for the lovers and pray for the haters, the scrollers and the trollers; pray for your friends and pray for your enemies; pray when stuff makes you happy, sad, grumpy and mad. Don’t tweet without thinking, but (in the words of the prayerful apostle) pray without ceasing.

Sam Gibb

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