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Adam Smith-Conner, a UK man, was arrested, tried and convicted for praying in his mind in proximity to an abortion clinic.

Is a nation that does not believe in God, and does not believe in the power of prayer, afraid of prayer? Most likely, they were reacting to the presence of someone whose worldview conflicted with their own. Had he been on a bus, there would not have been an arrest.

This episode will be the subject of many articles, appeals, and, hopefully, the overturning of the conviction. But we ought not let it rest in our own thinking. Something about our reaction to this situation bears serious consideration.

A Remarkable Testimony about Prayer without Proximity

Let me take a run-up to the issue.

One of the two home groups that I lead each week comprises senior citizens. When we’re not laughing at the creaks and groans as our ageing bones settle into chairs, we are sharing life experiences, discussing God’s Word, and praying. We pray for each other, of course. We also pray more widely for people we know and some we don’t.

Over recent months we have been praying for a young lady in Europe. She is the contact of a former colleague from my mission work. I did not know her personally. Nor had any of the group met her.

She was in a dark place. Suicidal depression held her in cruel bondage. Self-loathing and a sense of utter worthlessness led to self-harm and attempts to take her own life.

Over some months we prayed that whatever was holding her would be broken. We prayed that she would return to the understanding of Christ she had as a child. In short, we prayed that Jesus would set her free.

And he did. The ‘wind’ blew. Today she is back home with a loving family and has come to a full new (or renewed) state of repentance and faith. She knows she is loved and is regaining direction in life. She has recommenced her studies, is attending a youth fellowship and more.

She lives over 15,000 kilometres away. We did not need to go to stand by her bedside. We didn’t need to visit the psychiatric institution or stand in its parking lot. What we needed was the confidence that God hears us and sees her. And as we brought her before him, He would, in his time, bring about the longed-for redemption of her situation.

Clarifying Our Goals on Abortion

On the issue of abortion, we may wish to make a public stand to let governments know many people have a deep and abiding moral objection to what we believe is an abhorrent practice.

We may also wish to let people know that some would love and support them and their child should they decide to continue the pregnancy and deliver the baby. This is good.

The ultimate desired outcome is the diminishing and final closing down of the abortion industry. We long for this for the sake of the unborn children and their mothers, some of whom may carry a lifetime of guilt.

God is Not Restricted

On that issue, here is my point: the law may wish to keep the pray-ers distant from the clinics by creating a legally enforced exclusion zone. Good luck to them!

God is not the least bit troubled by a two-hundred-metre barrier any more than the barrier of an ocean and 15,000 kilometres. Did God need our physical presence in Europe for prayer to work?

Certainly, there are consequences that flow from the verdict, and we may imagine more cases will come.

However, suggesting the two-hundred metre law reduces the power of our praying and diminishes God. We either believe in an omnipotent, omniscient God or we do not. We either believe in prayer or we do not.

If our goal is to create public awareness, then by all means take a public stand. The killing of the unborn is an issue of justice that needs voices raised.

If our goal is to have God bring about change deep in the heart of a nation, its people and legislators, then beware of the distraction of a public display.

Small groups of people holding hands and praying publicly with bowed heads might make us feel good, but they add nothing to the power of prayer. Those same people in a home on the other side of town have exactly the same access to exactly the same God who has exactly the same power.

Defending Adam Smith-Connor

As for the criminality of silent prayer, it is certainly a shock to the system! I am sure that Adam Smith-Connor had no idea the law would be applied or misapplied that way.

He is a brother who needs to be defended. The verdict also needs to be fought as a protection for society as a whole against an Orwellian ‘thought police’.

But that is all. It is not a restriction on changing the world through prayer! If we believe that prayer transcends time and space, our physical presence would seem an unnecessary provocation.

The Power of Prayer in Central Asia

Friends of mine in a central Asian country where I once worked, helplessly watched their daughter bludgeoned to a pulp in an anti-Christian frenzy by an over-zealous militia officer.

There was nothing her parents could do. Christians were legally and socially powerless. They could not demonstrate outside the militia office! No courts would listen. No publicity was possible. Even identifying as a Christian was a criminal offence.

Some months later, the mother of the young militia officer came to their house pleading in tears for them to remove the curse from her son. She said he was wasting away in a terrible mental and physical state. She believed they had cursed him.

They spoke of Christ to the mother and told her they forgave the young man. God had acted. They did not need to stand outside the man’s house, or the militia headquarters. They only needed to stand before the throne of God and ask for justice.

We Must Use the Power of Prayer

What Jesus said about prayer might not cover every situation. But His words must be heeded.

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

Take great confidence from these words.

God hears us in the silence of our minds, even if the ‘room’ we are forced to pray in becomes a prison cell.

God alone knows, hears and responds as our thoughts ascend as incense to the throne.

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Photo by ADF International.