Faithful in Prayer

By Brian Mitchell       Prayer is something that develops within each of us as we grow in our faith and understanding. The stronger our belief in God and the more we come to understand Him and His Word the more prayerful we will become. There are some childlike elements to prayer that we must never lose, and yet there are some childish and immature aspects of prayer that we certainly want to outgrow.     Listen to some of these prayers of children and see what insights you can gain from them. Debbie, age 7 writes: Dear God: Please send a new baby for mommy. The new baby you sent last week cries too much. Dear God: Who did you make smarter? Boys or girls? My sister and I want to know. Jimmy, age 6. Dear God: How many angels are there in heaven? I would like to be the first kid in my class to know the answer. Norma, age 8.     Dear God: Thank you for the nice day today. You even fooled the weather man. Hank, age 7. Lois, age 9: Dear God: Please help me in school. I need help in spelling, adding, writing, history, and geography. I don’t need help in anything else. Natalie, age 7: Dear God: Do you have any helpers in heaven? I would like to be one of your helpers in heaven when I have summer vacation. Diane, age 8: Dear God: I am saying my prayers for me and my brother, Billy, because Billy is six months old and he can’t do anything but sleep and wet his diapers.     There is a childish misunderstanding of prayer represented here but they get so much right about God that we sometimes forget about. So much could be said and should be said about prayer, but for our purposes today I want to say three things: Prayer is EXPECTED, should not be EXHAUSTED because it is EFFECTIVE.     If you are like me, then you don’t need to be convinced of the place and power of prayer. But what I do need to be reminded of often is to make prayer a priority. I need to be careful to carve out time for prayer and to guard that time for all of its worth. In order to be more faithful in prayer, I want to suggest three things to do. First, set a time and a place for prayer. Prayer must be intentional. Second, remove the things that interfere with prayer. Third, pray with faith, persistence, and the right motive. And then see what happens!!!

- Brian Mitchell serves as a minister with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. He may be contacted through the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net