How hard can it be? I have friends who excel in prayer. They inhale heaven and exhale God. They would rather pray than sleep. I sleep when I should pray. They belong to the PGA: Prayer Giants Association.
Not me. I’m a card-carrying member of the PWA: Prayer Wimps Anonymous.
Hello, my name is
Max. I’m a recovering prayer wimp.
It’s true. I doze off when I pray. My thoughts zig, then zag, then zig again. If attention deficit disorder applies to prayer, I am afflicted. When I pray, I think of a thousand things I need to do, and I forget the one thing I set out to do: pray.
Sure. We all pray some
But wouldn’t we like to pray More? Better?
Prayer is not a privilege for the pious, not the art of a chosen few. Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between
God and his child. My friend, he wants to talk with you. Even now, as you read these words, he taps at the door. Open it. Welcome him in. Let the conversation begin.
Prayer really is that simple. Resist the urge to complicate it. Don’t take pride in well-crafted prayers. Don’t apologize for incoherent prayers. No games. No cover-ups. Just be honest honest to God. Tell him everything that’s on your heart. Your worries, your fears, your unfixable fixes.
But here’s the thing about prayer. If it depends on how I pray, I’m sunk. But if the power of prayer depends on the One who hears the prayer, then I have hope.
And if the power of prayer comes from the One who hears it, then I don’t have to be timid.
You heard me right. Our prayers shouldn’t be bashful or half-hearted. They should be bold.
Boldness in prayer is an uncomfortable thought for many. We think of speaking softly to God, humbling ourselves before God, or having a chat with God but agonizing before God? Storming heaven with prayers? Wrestling with God? Isn’t such prayer irreverent? Presumptuous?
It would be had God not invited us to pray as such. “So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need” (Hebrews 4:16 tlb).
So how do we go from prayer wimps to audacious prayers like that?
We start by consulting God in everything. Always. Immediately. Quickly. Live with one ear toward heaven. Keep the line open to God.
The inside leave much to be desired as well. It's large, echoey, and cold, and I don't mean just the temperature, but the whole look. To top it off, I was told by someone that the residents there are low functioning. My brother is not. Of course, my sisters and I are against the move, but it's being forced. I was on speaker phone Wednesday morning with Renee, Kim, and Wes King, all trying to persuade me of how badly Tim needs this "for his own safety". BUT every time we see him he's walking great, and I told them this. It was to no avail though, as I was once again told that he trips over the thresh hold, can not do the stairs easily, and shuffles his feet, causing someone to need to walk with him at all times. I ended up in tears, and decided to pop in on Tim for a visit later that afternoon. When I got there, he was having a fit as Erin was putting a Depends on him so that he could go for a ride with me...I have them do this because he has wet my car seat on a few occasions. She hadn't told him I was coming because I had failed to say exactly when I was going to be there, and she didn't want to overly excite him. When he saw me, he instantly settled, grabbed my hand, and we were off! He had no trouble walking, in fact he practically ran down the front steps, his hand in mine. Once again I was failing to see his difficulty walking, and the emergency to move him out of the home he has known for 20 years, aside from a 3 year stint in a house across the street when he was put on a med that suddenly took away his ability to walk on his own. "Is he on a new medication?", I had asked at the time. "Nope, nothing new", I was told. Very shortly after he was moved his ability to walk suddenly came back. When I inquired as to why he had lost his ability to walk and then regained it as if nothing had ever happened, I was told, "We took him off of the new medication". But I thought he wasn't on a new med? We had been lied to. They moved him back into his home 3 years later when an opening became available, but a few short months later he "tripped over the leg of a chair" and walked with a limp after hurting his lag when he fell. Since that time they have said his walking has gotten worse and worse....although we don't see a problem at all. I have been told he has "Athritis in his spine" and "He has a drug induced Parkinson like disorder that's only going to get worse". "He's not on any new meds", we are told once again. I did talk to Tim about the whole situation as we drove down the country roads through Yates County. I told him that we don't think the Rush house is a good move for him, and he told me he doesn't want to move. Upon our return back to his home, he took off for the bathroom (unassisted) to remove his Depend, and came back to the kitchen (unassisted) to usher me toward the door. He did not shuffle his feet or seem unsteady. I'm thinking they want to move him to make room for someone else. We are praying that God allows him to stay where he is until something opens up with Heritage homes. I wish they would return my calls.
This is us a couple of weeks ago on our visit. I love him,
