8-26-2019

Good Morning All,

Acts 20:36; “And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.”

    One of the more entertaining parts of being the preacher is teaching junior high age confirmation class.  They really keep you on your toes.  I pretty much let almost any question be asked.  It used to be any question but a few years ago, “zombies” were put out of bounds.  One of the interesting discussions usually involves prayer. 

   It usually starts with the question, “what is the right way to pray?”  That brings lots of answers but usually they agree that it is with your hands folded and your head bowed.  What if I stand like this? (I have both arms extended upward with my head looking up) They all shake their head, no.  I tell them that this is how Solomon prayed to God in the Temple.  They looked perplexed.

    Then I ask, “what about this?”  I kneel down on the floor and stretch out on the floor. (This gets harder to do every year!!)  They all shake their heads again, a little more emphatically.  “This is how Joshua, Elijah, Paul and even Jesus prayed; are you telling me that Joshua, Elijah and Jesus do not know how to pray? (It’s a little mean but they really looked puzzled by now).  So, the question is asked again “what is the right way to pray?

    This is where we talk about the different postures of prayer in the Bible.  The “right way to pray” is not about how you stand or hold your hands or even what, exactly, you say.  The right way to pray is to just do it.  Just pray.  Pray from your heart and pray in faith, expecting God to answer your prayer.  Take time to speak to God and do it often throughout the day. Pray intentionally with your focus solely upon what you are doing.  If you can get yourself to find a pattern of a short devotion during the day and then praying to God during the day; you can receive some real comfort from this.  It can help make a “crisis” more like a bump in the road.  The truly wonderful thing is that as we continue in a devotional time and then a prayerful life; the Holy Spirit will remind us of different verses or passages to help us remember what God truly wants for us. 

    If we feel fearful or anxious he can bring up “cast all your anxieties on him for he cares for you”.  If we feel burdened by stress we can remember “Come to me all who are burdened and I will give you rest!” If we feel completely abandoned we have “Lo, I am with you even to the end of the age.”  If we feel defeated we have, “God is for us, who can be against us?”  These can all come to mind if we keep a rhythm of speaking to and listening to God in our lives.  This will provide us with the strength and comfort and hope to live this life.

Dearest Lord, you taught us to pray in the manner of being at one with the Father.  In this way, we can come close to you and to experience your grace and mercy.  We can live in a life of hope in you and never feel abandoned.  In your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret