Men's Sunday School Teacher: Dennis Porter
Prayer
I heard a story about President Lyndon B. Johnson while he was in the White House. It seems his special assistant, Bill Moyers, was asked to say grace before a meal in the family quarters. As Moyers began praying softly, the President interrupted him with ‘Speak up, Bill! Speak up! The former Baptist preacher from East Texas stopped in mid sentence and without looking up replied, “I wasn’t addressing you, Mr. President”. (By the way, Bill Moyers was born in Hugo.)
When we pray, what is the proper way to pray? Do we pray out loud or silently? Do we direct our prayer to the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit? Do we stand, kneel, bow down, lie prostrate or sit? Should our eyes be open or closed? Hands clasped in front or back or held at our sides. Should we pray in private, in public, in church, in our quiet place or in the great outdoors? Do we need to read out of a book, follow a script or say only the Lord’s Prayer as it appears in Matthew 6:9-13? Pray in the morning, noon or evening hours or after we are in bed at night?
When we pray, what is the proper way to pray? There is no magic formula for prayer. The Bible says that God hears man, Psalms 17:6, Isaiah 38:5. Therefore, man communicates with God by prayer.
For the Christian, praying is like breathing. Prayer is a form of worship. When we pray, we get to meet God, One on one. We can go to Him at any time, in any circumstance. We do not need to have a certain time of day, an intermediary or an interpreter. As a born again believer in Jesus Christ, we can have a conversation with God as often as we want. We need to talk from the heart. He already knows what is on our heart. And when God answers our prayers, and He does, that answer is not based on our diction, or vocabulary, or whether we are sitting or standing. It is based on whether we are a child of God first and whether the answer to the prayer is in His will, I John 5:14-15.
So, as we enter into our prayer time with God, just remember this is your special time with the Lord and Savior. And as you pray, please remember to pray for Oak Grove.
In Love and Truth, Dennis
In Truth and Love, Dennis
