Pray Anyway

Elderly man prayingThere have been times in my life when I wasn’t sure how to pray, so I prayed. I’m pretty sure that there was no eloquence to my prayers at that time – but the Lord understood. I think I’ve made prayer this divine appointment when it really is an on-going conversation with the Lord. As I read this Psalm this morning , I was reminded of painful prayers – prayers where I’m hurting deeply or deeply troubled. Check this out….

1 Lord, you are the God who saves me;

    day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;

    turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles

    and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;

    I am like one without strength. (Psalm 88:1-4 NIV)

 

When I first learned how to pray I was really young and I said pretty much the same prayer a lot. I remember praying:

“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.”

I didn’t understand the full meaning of that, but I began to trust the Lord with my heart. I also later learned some really cool ways to pray. I prayed in public – leading prayer at church. As I’ve gotten older and my journey with the Lord is a lot deeper – I just pray all the time.  I don’t mince words with Him because He knows I’m thinking them. I think prayer is a real interaction between my Creator and me. I might as well be brutally honest with Him because He knows me better than anyone including me. I shouldn’t make my prayers all eloquent and pretty – just honest.

I will pray when I awake.

I will pray when I’m thrilled.

I will pray when I’m crushed in spirit.

I will pray when I’m scared to death.

I will pray when I’m lost.

I will pray when I’m confused.

I will pray all the time to the One Who can lead me through the most troubling circumstances. Even if He doesn’t lead me through, He is with me in the middle of it all. Prayer is really based on trust and I trust the Lord.

Pressing On!
Dwayne

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