Prayer: It’s Easy

As parents, it’s very important that we make an effort to intentionally insert spiritual practices into everyday family life.  Jesus should be “normal” in your home… What I mean by that is Jesus should be a normal part of our everyday life!

If we want our children and grandchildren to know about the power of Jesus Christ we must lead them to Him. This is not just the job of the church, but it is the responsibility of the parents too.

This past 4th of July we as a family had a really awesome experience with God because we did just that!

After partaking of my son in law Scott’s grilled burgers (half beef and half bacon mixture, a true cholesterol feast) we sat around the pool fellowshipping.  My daughter Brooke’s youngest daughter Olivia (10 years old) had been talking to her mom about communion and what it meant. Olivia had requested that after lunch we all take communion together as a family.

So we did, right there, as a family, by the pool, in swimming suits. You realize you don’t have to be in church to take communion right? Just making sure.

After we took the elements and thanked God for the sacrifice Jesus made for us, my wife Trudi spoke up and asked for prayer for her knee.  She had been experiencing pain in her knee for about a month and in just the last few days a lump had formed on the side of the knee. She had not been to the doctor so we didn’t know what it was; maybe a cyst or even a blood clot.

Trudi said, ” I want the granddaughters to come over here and pray for me.” The granddaughters consisted of 13 year old Ryan, Olivia, and 2 year old Beau. All the girls laid hands on Trudi and prayed, standing on the communion promises we had just worshipped God for.

Jesus blood was shed to cleanse our sins and his body was broken so that we could be healed.

It was so sweet to hear those girls praying for Nana’s knee. Even little Beau laid her hands on her and said, “Jesus, heal Nana’s outchie.” But these were not just sweet little prayers. The swelling began to go down from that point, and 4 days later, when Trudi showed it to the chiropractor, all the swelling was gone and the pain was too! She was healed!

I came across this quote the other day and I immediately thought of the prayers those young girls prayed that day,

“Our prayers may be awkward.  Our attempts may be feeble.  But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.”  – Max Lucado

Now, Ryan & Olivia know how to pray! They’ve been doing it since they were Beau’s age, but Beau’s little 4 word request, although not eloquent and not long, was powerful too! Not because she prayed perfectly, but because of the one who heard her.

God heard all three of their voices that day, their voices full of faith, and it didn’t matter if they prayed a perfect prayer or not, all that mattered was that they believed He would make Nana’s knee better and He did!

It’s not the way you verbalize your prayers that makes a difference, it’s the One who hears them that makes the difference and all it takes for Him to hear your prayers is praying for things that are in line with His will. 

Don’t try to be someone you are not when you talk to God. He’s not waiting for you to impress Him with your knowledge of scripture, the length in which you can pray, or your vocablulary. He just wants you to talk to Him. You can’t mess it up.

1 John 5:14 (NIV) This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

1 Comment

  1. Gail Neuberger on April 27, 2014 at 2:06 pm

    Wonderful message! I really enjoyed this. Thank you very much! Gail (a COTM member since 1996)

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