My mother was a diligent teacher. She had a deep faith forged through her health issues she battled during her youth. For me, her most profound teaching for me was her prayers. She began praying with me when I was only three months old. Later at about a year old, before I went to bed each night and after my dad read me a story, I went to my crib and knelt down to pray. My mother coached me to pray every night prior to going to sleep and when I took a nap during the day. Fortunately, my mother took pictures to remind me of how my praying began.
The first prayer I learned was the traditional child’s prayer that went like this:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
I probably didn’t fully understand this prayer when I first learned it, but I learned the concept of praying. It was ground work for a developing prayer life that continued to evolve as years went by.
Each experience in my life that was life changing and a turning point was indelibly integrated with praying. Prayer was an integral component before, during or after those turning points, even if I didn’t realize that they were at the time.
Prayer became a means for me to express my sincere gratitude and thanksgiving for the many blessings I experienced during my growth as a Christian. But prayer was much more than that, even as important as thanksgiving was for me.
As prayer experiences grew over time, more aspects of prayer’s benefits were realized.
I learned that prayer gave me an opportunity to discover new ways to express my deepest feelings toward God. I found new words and combinations of words to articulate thanksgiving, appreciation, hope, desires, and longings to my Father.
I discovered that how I prayed had a profound effect on my attitude and demeanor throughout the day. When I begin the day praying, “Dear God, I thank you for the light of another day” I find myself being grateful for life and am motivated to make the most of it.
Prayers I have found changed things and most importantly changed me.
When I prayed, “Lord, please give me a heart with skill to listen as I want to be able to hear even the soft whisper of your Holy Spirit when He seeks to guide my path into your perfect will for me today” I had a heightened awareness of the urging of the Spirit. I felt His guiding words and thoughts moving me into extraordinary life experiences throughout the day.
My prayer often included thoughts like, “Lord, I want so much to be able to express the feelings of thanksgiving that pulse in my heart and soul. But I can’t find the words to do it. Please look into my heart and see there the thanksgiving I cannot say in words.” Subsequently, I felt that my true thankfulness reached God, and I was content.
I found on social media the following that echoes these thoughts:
Praying for the souls that were precious to me in life but had passed on, gave me a means to express to them how much I loved them and appreciated their contribution to my life. In some cases, it enabled me to seek forgiveness from those I had hurt in life but never had the opportunity to seek forgiveness prior to their passing.
I found that praying for someone as an intercessor, gave me a more meaningful and effectual connection with them and hence enabled me to become a blessing for them. This was particularly evident when I sought to comfort those who had suffered the loss of a loved one.
Many times I prayed silently when I was in the midst of challenging circum-stances. Not knowing what was happening, understanding how to react or respond and what to say, I quietly prayed in thought, only then to experience just the right action or words to say flowing into me.
I discovered that when I prayed aloud in the presence of others, especially when I was praying as an intercession for them as they struggled with a situation, the fact that a prayer is a spiritual entity allowed them to sense that which was beyond just the words, but also the spirit prompting them. In these cases, most often I found the words coming to me not from my mind but from the Holy Spirit. They were designed by God to comfort and respond to the needs of the souls involved. I gained a sense of gratefulness for being used as an instrument of blessing for them.
In situations that were beyond me, I found that during deep and urgent prayers, I gained a knowledge that I had not understood before. It was the evidence for me that prayer was not a one way conversation but rather a dialogue. Not a traditional dialogue comprised of words going back and forth, but a communication of spiritual thoughts. The more I experienced this phenomenon, the more I became sensitive to it. I have stood in awe at times when serious questions were answered in these sweet hours engaged in prayer.
The consequences of prayers have changed me in ways beyond my ability to explain. Reading the prayers of men and women in the Bible has also provided new dimensions to my understanding of effectual prayer. Solomon’s prayer “give me a heart with skill to listen” and David’s prayer “Search my heart oh God and see if there is anything that makes you sad” have provided me with ways to touch the heart of God with humble supplications.
The most life changing aspect of prayer was those extraordinary moments when prayers were answered almost instantaneously. The answers received were so perfectly precise and effectual that there was no doubt of its reality. Sometimes, the meticulous nature of the answers that came in the form of my thoughts, words I spoke or the actions of others were so astounding that uncontrollable emotions erupted in me.
Certain answers to prayers provided new understanding of the heart of God and His perfect plan for me and others. The benefits I have experienced with praying are far beyond this effort to explain.
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TURNING POINTS
The life of prayer that I have enjoyed has been a lifetime of turning points. My praying has given me comfort, strength, faith, trust and vision from my relationship with my God and Father, His Son and His Spirit. I find that the character of prayer that is independent of time, place and form allows it to be effectively engaged in the moment.