PRAYER

“The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you arrive, ask for Saul of Tarsus. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him so that he can see again.”  (Acts 9: 11-12)

Few words are more out of place in today’s workplace and culture than the word “prayer.”  We have seen Federal Court cases attempting to ban prayer from public schools.  Recently, University of Georgia football coach Mark Richt has come under attack for praying with his team before games.  If a company has regular scheduled prayer time, that company is risking litigation.  Yet, during times of hardship and great tribulation, even those who call themselves atheist will pray to God for help.

It is interesting that when the Lord instructs Ananias to go and lay hands on Paul, the scripture tells us that Paul is praying.  Paul had just been blinded by our Lord Jesus Christ and his first reaction is not to cry or have some type of a nervous attack, but rather to pray.  He humbles himself, drops to his knees, and prays.  Out of the hundreds of passages that refer to prayer in the Bible, this passage has the greatest impact on me.

It impacts me because I want to learn to live so that when I face difficulties, my first reaction is to go into prayer.  Prayer is an exercise in surrendering our will to a greater will.  It is the act of worship where we come before our creator, admitting that we need His guidance and love to get us by.  As humans, we have no problem knowing the difference between right and wrong.  Our struggle lies in finding the will to do what is right.  Only through prayer and submission are we able to find this will.

As I watched Hurricanes Charley and Frances devastate the state of Florida, and Hurricane Ivan threatening to do the same, I wonder how many people prayed before they boarded their homes.  I wonder how many of us pray before we react to some bad news or circumstance.  I wonder how many of us believe that the God we pray to really cares and will answer our prayers.  In the Gospel of Mark 11: 24-25, Jesus places great emphasis on believing we will receive what we ask for.

As we pray, how many of us are praying to our Father?  It is critical to realize that if a child asks a complete stranger for something he or she desires, chances are that most of the time they will not get what they are asking for.  After all, is it not reasonable to assume that our only responsibility is to our own children?  The same is true with our Father.  It is safe to assume that many of our prayers are not answered because we have not made Him our father.

“Lord, teach me to live a life where I wake up with prayer on my mind and go to sleep praying.”

Meditation:  Is prayer your first response during times of crisis??

Jorge L. Valdes, Ph.D.

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