Prayer can bring strength, encouragement

One of the spiritual disciplines most often overlooked in a person’s life is prayer.

There are many different reasons why this could be the case. It might be because you are too busy, you may not know how, or maybe it is something you have never done before.

The challenge is to make it a priority.

In my life, prayer has given me strength and brought encouragement when I was hurting. The great thing about praying is that it can be done in different ways. Prayer can be as simple as thanking God for the food he has blessed you with.

In fact, there is no best way to pray. It reminds me of a funny sermon illustration that I share from time to time when preaching.

Three ministers were chatting one day, and began discussing the best way to pray. As they were speaking, a telephone repairman was working nearby. One of the ministers said, “Kneeling down with my hands locked together is definitely the best way to pray, and when I feel closest to God.” The second shook his head and stated, “No, I get the best results from my prayers when I am standing and have my hands reached out toward heaven.” The last one said, “You both have got it wrong. The most effective way to pray is lying down on the floor. It shows the most reverence to God.”

After listening to all of the conversation, the repairman could not contain himself any longer.

“Hey gentlemen,” he interrupted. “The best praying I ever did, and when I felt closest to God, was last week when I was hanging upside down from a telephone pole, 75 feet in the air.”

The point of this story is simple but true – prayer works! How and when you do it are up to you. Some may find comfort in kneeling down beside their bed and praying to God before they go to sleep.

Others are encouraged in saying a corporate prayer like the Lord’s Prayer during a worship service or at a funeral.

Still others may find comfort in praying when they are stuck in traffic, and feel their blood pressure rising. The list goes on.

A person could define prayer as a conversation with God in which your soul connects to him. It can be verbal or silent, in a group or all alone. It is more than contemplation or meditation; it is addressing God directly and laying your personal requests at his feet. The best part is that God is available at any time to hear your prayers. He can and will answer them.

So, for those who find strength in prayer, keep pressing forward. For those in need of a miracle or encouragement today, take a moment right now to ask God for strength.

For those who have never prayed…why don’t you give it a try?

I end this article with a prayer that has been an inspiration for me as a chaplain and pastor over the years.

It is the “Serenity Prayer;”’ may it bring joy and peace to your soul.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as he did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to his will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with him forever in the next. Amen.”