Simple Prayer

But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Psalm 66:19  

I was not raised in an Evangelical Christian home.  Later in life I learned that my mother had been baptized as a Christian when she was 17 but she had married my Dad at 27 and he was not a born again Christian, so there was no special emphasis on the Christian life in our house.  But there were many good Biblical influences in  my life and one of them was that my Mother taught me to pray. 

Every night we said grace before dinner.  It was a rote prayer that everyone has heard.  “God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for this food. Amen.”  There were six children in my family so I think she was happy with this.  I was very surprised when I visited a friend when I was 7 or 8 years old and they continued, “By His hands we must be fed, give us, Lord, our daily bread.” 

Also, every night as small children we knelt by the sides of our beds and said this very basic prayer, “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.  God bless Mommy, Daddy, Sue, Steve, Becky, Ginny, Beth, and Jason. Amen”  We did the usual adding people once in a while, especially if we had a relative who was sick.  

I am very grateful because, though the prayers were simple, they were consistant and pointed me to God.  They became a habit in my life even as I grew up and no one was reminding me to say my prayers every night. 

There is a great emphasis on prayer in my church right now.  We are studying “Transforming Prayer” by Daniel Henderson in our small group and in our Wednesday evening prayer meeting as well as a more general emphsis in the worship services. We have a pastor with a vision for a “house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13) All of this emphsis has gotten me to think about my own prayer times and habits. 

Though I have only been a born again Christian for about 18 years I think I have prayed everry night of my life as my Mom taught me to.  In our small group we end in a time of prayer.  We don’t exchange requests and pray through a list as has been the practice of most groups I belonged to.  We actually start with a prompt that gets our minds working on a way to praise God.  We have been asked to think and respond to his faithfulness, to His grace, mercy, and justice.  

As I was reflecting about this I was amazed at how God has honored those rote, child-like prayers.  As I got older I added to my  “bless” list and I don’t remember when the “now I lay me down to sleep” part got dropped but it did.  But, from early in our marriage I prayed for God to bless my husband and our marriage.  In our prayer time a few days ago I realized that God has certainly answered those prayers. As general and rote as they were – He heard my heart’s desire for a good marriage and has given it to me in answer to my prayers. 

I have talked to many Christian women who say that they just don’t have time for prayer in their busy lives.  They use their families, their work, even their ministries as an excuse not to spend any time in prayer. The message that has been loud and clear to me in these many lessons on prayer is that God hears.  He isn’t looking for speacial words or a sophisticated “system” for prayer.  He wants to hear from the depths of our hearts how much we love Him and what we need and want.  He wants to be the center of our lives and relationships. 

There is no prayer too simple, to short, or too childish for God to hear.  In Psalm 46:10 when God said “Be still and know that I am God.” He meant it, He loves to spend time with His people.  But I also think that He hears when we “pray without ceasing” as we run from place to place with chidlren in tow or a “to do” list in our minds.  He hears us from the depths of the pit and from our greatest triumphs in joy. 

It gets even better. God answers our prayers.  When He is the center of our lives so that we pray in His will, then He not only hears – He answers! “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” John 11:22 

I will praise God for my devoted husband and wonderful marriage. Both are a gift from Him.  But, even better is to see His faithfulness in answering the most simple of prayers: “God, please bless my husband and my marriage.”  I am a little more specific than I used to be – but He is the same faithful heavenly Father.