help – Hope Walking

How many persons can you name whose prayers are recorded in the Bible? Stop now and make a list. Then note where and why they prayed.

STOP NOW and make your list.

Did anything about your list surprise you? Maybe you are surprised by how few prayers you can remember.

I can help you. In the Bible the first person who prayed was Adam: then the man (Adam) said, “This at last is bone of my bones!” Prayer is talking to God, and Adam is expressing his delight with Eve to God. I am sure Adam is talking to God, because there is no one else there. Our prayers, too, can be spontaneous exclamations of joy or sorrow.

Here’s another famous prayer story: Daniel in the lions den. Did you know Daniel was thrown in the den of hungry lions because he was praying and giving thanks to God? Then it was the King, who threw Daniel in, who prayed the lions wouldn’t eat Daniel! You can read it in Daniel chapter 6.

See if you can guess who prayed this: “In my distress, O LORD, I called to you, and you answered me. From deep in the world of the dead I cried for help, and you heard me.”

Give up? Here’s another hint: “The water came over me and choked me; the sea covered me completely, and seaweed wrapped around my head.” That’s right; it’s Jonah. Who else would be praying with seaweed around his head?

As you can see, we can pray any time and our prayers can express, joy, thankfulness, desperation and terror.

And we can pray anywhere. Jesus prayed publicly and he prayed alone. (see my blog on praying in secret.) Even in our noisy world we can get with God and talk. Susanna Wesley, mother of Charles, John and a bunch of other kids, was known for praying with her apron thrown over her head so she could be alone with God and pray.

Pray because you are thankful. Pray because you are loved.

Pray because you are lonely; God always listens.

Pray because God invites you to: “Call to me when trouble comes; I will save you, and you will praise me.”

Pray because God cares for you. ”Praise him, you servants of the LORD!……He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering; he does not turn away from them, but answers when they call for help.”

Scripture references: Genesis 2:23, Jonah 2:2, Psalms 50:15, Psalm 22:23

Can you remember the first time you talked to God? Stop now and try to recall how old you were and what you said. (Pause to remember.)

Maybe you were very young and a family member helped you fold you hands and thank God for your food. Maybe you were a bit older and memorized the “Our Father” in Sunday School or for your First Communion. Maybe you were older still and faced a scary situation that made you ask God for help.

In your memory of talking to God, try to remember what you thought about God as you prayed. Little kids can have some very strange ideas about who God is and what he looks like. Grown-ups can have some very strange ideas, too.

I think one of the reasons we don’t pray more is we have concocted ideas about God that are not very accurate. In the coming weeks I invite you to investigate with me what Jesus said about talking to God. I am convinced Jesus was sent by God and is God. Believing that, I absolutely want to know what he said about prayer.

We’ll start with a well known and oft-quoted passage from the writings of Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples, The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6. Pause now to find this in your Bible or print it from Bible Gateway

Read through the passage once, and then reread a few times circling all the words or phrases that are repeated at least 3 times. Make a list of what you find.

I will meet you back here next week and we can compare what we find. I hope to hear from you very soon.

Tag: help

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