[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Sunday, June 23, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all, wherever in this world you happen to reside.  More than half the world is already in their Monday, but we in the Americas are still in our Lord's Day time of the week.  For those of you who attend Sunday night services, I hope that you will get an additional word from the Lord as imparted to you by your pastor, and that you will apply that word to your individual lives as the gracious Holy Spirit enables.

We have another article concerning prayer written by Howard Hendricks.  Entitled "Learning Bout Prayer" and found in a compilation called "Stories For the Heart," it is rendered as follows:

He came to know the Lord on a Thursday evening, and on Sunday he showed up at church.  The pastor announced that we were going to have an evening service, and, of course, the guy didn't know enough to stay home.  So he showed up again.  That's when he learned that our church had a Bible study and prayer meeting on Wednesday night, so he came that evening as well.

I sat next to him at the prayer meeting, and just before we got started, he turned to me and asked, "Do you think they'd mind if I prayed?"

"Of course not," I reassured him.  "That is what we're here for."

"Yeah, I know," he said, "but I've got a problem.  I can't pray the way you people do."

I told him, "That's no problem, friend.  You should thank God for that!"

Well, we started praying, and I could tell he was too nervous to take part.  Finally, I put my hand on his thigh to encourage him.  I'll never forget his prayer:  "Lord, this is Jim," he began.  "I'm the one who met you last Thursday night.  I'm sorry, Lord, because I can't say it the way the rest of these people do, but I want to tell you the best I know how.  I love You, Lord, I really do.  Thanks a lot.  I'll see you later."

I tell you, that prayer ignited our prayer meeting! Some of us had been doing a good job of talking about theology in prayer--you know, exploring the universe of doctrine, scraping the Milky Way with our big words.  But this guy prayed--earnestly!

My children have taught me many things about theology.  When they were quite young, we had a scholar visiting our home.  After our meal, we were ready for our customary time of family worship, and we invited the man to join us.  When it came time to pray, the kids, in typical childlike fashion, thanked Jesus for the tricycle and the sandbox and even the fence and so on.  Our guest could scarcely wait to take me aside.

"Professor Hendricks," he began, very much the lecturer that he was, "you don't mean to tell me that you're a professor in a theological seminary, and yet you teach your children to pray for things like that."

"I certainly do," I replied.  "Do you ever pray about your Ford?" I knew he did.  He had to--he was riding mostly on faith and frayed fabric!

"Of course," he replied, "but that's different."

"Oh, really?" I countered.  "What makes you think your Ford is more important to God than my boy's tricycle?" Then I pressed him further.  "You're on the road a lot.  Do you ever pray for protection?"

"Brother Hendricks, I never go anywhere but that I pray for the Lord's journeying mercies."

"Well, safety is essentially what my boy is thanking Jesus for when he thanks Him for the fence.  That fence keeps out those great big dogs on the other side!"

Wow, but what an article Brother Howard wrote several years ago! Maybe some, if not all, of us know someone that, when they pray, they just know how to open up to God in such a way that you know they mean business with Him, whether he/she prays for a personal need or the need of a loved one.  Of course, for my money it's always good to hear that particular person pray in his/her own voice, and especially when it comes from the heart.  That is why I so much miss hearing the voices of several people whom I've had the pleasure of meeting online, but alas that may not be in the foreseeable future.  I don't mean by that that these particular individuals have gone home to be with the Lord, but I would like to hear their voices again in prayer.  You notice that I'm not giving out the names of these individuals, because I wouldn't want this to get back to them and thus perhaps embarrass them.  Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this article as well as the one from yesterday as well.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout these last evil days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul