Prayer Talk

Sunday, August 26, 2012

We Christ Followers come to our prayer experiences from so many different backgrounds. I am blessed to have wonderful prayer models. Some of my first memories are of my parents on bended knees every night before they went to sleep.

I call my mom a "Prayer Angel." She lives in a constant attitude of prayer. She starts each day with prayer using devotional books that are marked with prayer requests and notes of answered prayer. She prays for each family member by name and with specificity every day. What a beautiful comfort to know that every day of my life I have been lifted up to God.

I call my dad a "Prayer Warrior." He is perhaps the best public prayer I've ever heard. I remember Dad always had a prayer list taped to his mirror. Each day as he shaved, he prayed for his list, mostly the men in his Sunday School class. He kept men on his list who had never made a profession of faith and prayed for them until he could place a check by their name - saved.

My parents taught me to pray. From the time I could speak, I learned to pray, "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

Before every meal whether at home or away, we said the blessing. I first learned, "God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food." We had the "Bread of Life" cards in a bread-shaped container on our table and we would read a scripture and then a prayer on the back.

Yes, my models of prayer helped me to develop my own prayer patterns. I now begin my daily season of prayer by saying, "Lord, help me to be open to the giving and receiving of your blessings today and do all things pleasing in your sight." That prayer opens my running dialogue with God for the day and helps me to focus on all the good things he sends my way. By being blessing focused, I find I'm a little better equipped to face the challenges that inevitably come.

Not everyone has prayer models like mine or learned at an early age to talk to our Heavenly Father. But no matter where we are on our spiritual journey, we can go to God and pour out our hearts, whisper a prayer, or just utter our groanings to him. He hears us whether we've practiced and prayed all our lives or just begun to pray.

Have a little talk with Jesus today!

Be unceasing in prayer. I Thessalonians 5:17

View video of Prayer Prompts - http://youtu.be/F_BXQLIko7c

On Bended Knee

Sunday, January 24, 2010

When is the last time you fell on your knees in prayer before God? How long were you able to bend down before him? One of the most heartwarming stories from the Haiti earthquake survivors comes from Mierielle Dittmer. Lying in a hospital bed in Boca Raton, Florida, Mierielle shared that when the earthquake struck, she was in a Haiti market. As concrete and rubble came tumbling down upon her, all she could do was fall on her knees to protect herself. And there she stayed for five days – 108 hours!

When asked by a TV reporter what kept her from going crazy, she responded without hesitation, “My faith in Jesus Christ. My faith in the Lord. I have a very strong faith.” With both legs scarred, bruised, and bandaged, she shared that she started reciting scripture from the Psalms to give her comfort. In front of a national viewing audience Mierielle proudly proclaimed, “I read my Bible everyday.” When those in the rubble with her gave in to despair, she encouraged, “Our faith will save us. Don’t give up!” She was the confident image of hope as she concluded, “Nothing is impossible.”

In biblical times to bend one’s knee before God was an act of worship. It was an act of humility and pure submission to fall on bended knee before God. Catholics genuflect or go down on one knee as a sign of genuine respect to God. Some of my earliest memories are of my parents at their bedside on bended knee in prayer. What a beautiful act of submission. Bending our knees in prayer is a sign that we are in humble service to the God we worship. When we bow before God, we acknowledge him as Lord and seek his guidance and wisdom.

The beautiful Christian song, “Bow the Knee,” reminds us to trust God even when there doesn’t seem to be an answer to our problems.
“And when you don’t understand the purpose of his plan,
In the presence of the King, bow the knee.”
(To view a dramatic music video of “Bow the Knee” by Paula Orr, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9z6l1PXsFE)

When we find ourselves in a crisis, do we, like Mierielle, fall on bended knee? Do we have a firm conviction that God is in control? Can we proclaim with boldness that we have faith in Jesus Christ?

When we are surrounded by the rubble of a life in ruins, let’s remember to bow the knee. When we are in the depths of depression, let’s remember to bow the knee. When we suffer a financial setback, let’s remember to bow the knee. When we deal with a family crisis, let’s remember to bow the knee. When we face an uncertain future, let’s remember to bow the knee.

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11