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Prayer gets interesting when children are involved

A father was watching his son try to move a heavy stone. The boy couldn't budge it, and finally told his dad, “This stone is just too heavy. I've done all I can and I just can't move it.”

The father asked, “Are you sure you've done everything you can to move that stone?”

“Yes, I have,” replied the son, out of breath.

“You've used all of your resources?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“No, you haven't,” the father said, “you haven't asked me to help.”

What a picture of our lives! We treat God like a spare tire. We don't think about Him for months, until suddenly we have a flat and turn to our spare for help.

Prayer is a necessary discipline for the serious believer. Prayer unlocks the power and resources of heaven. As Billy Graham once said, “Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask.”

More than anything, prayer is a confession of our inadequacy and a request for God's strength. Prayer is an admission of our limitations. We can't move life's rocks by ourselves, and God is there to help us if we'll just call on him.

Jeremiah 33:3 reads, “Call on me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Prayer is an invitation to experience God's strength moment-by-moment.

Prayer is so simple that even a child can pray. Of course, things get interesting when children are involved because children tell it like it is. A pastor's five-year-old daughter noticed that her father always paused and bowed his head for a moment just before starting his sermon. One day, she asked him why.

“Well, I'm asking for the Lord's strength. I'm asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon.”

“How come He doesn't do it?” she asked.

A little boy and his family were having dinner at his grandmother's house. Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served. When little Johnny received his plate, he started eating right away.

“Johnny, wait until we say our prayer.”

“I don't have to,” the boy replied.

“Of course you do,” his mother insisted. “We say a prayer before eating at our house.”

“That's our house,” little Johnny said. “But this is Grandma's house and she really knows how to cook, so I'm digging in!”

Another family was hosting some guests for dinner. At the table, the mother turned to the six-year-old daughter and said, “Sally, please say the blessing for us.”

Little Sally said, “I wouldn't know what to say.”

“Just say what you hear Mommy say.”

So Sally bowed her head and said, “Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite these people to dinner?” There's nothing like a child's honesty.

A pastor asked a little boy if he said his prayers every night.

“Yes, sir,” the boy replied.

“And, do you always say them in the morning, too?”

“No, sir,” the boy replied, “I ain't scared in the daytime. It's the nighttime that gets me.”

Don't wait until night falls to pray. Stay in touch with God, and lean on His strength moment by moment.