A young man once told this story about prayer.  He said, “I was so angry at God. I asked God time and time again in prayer to help me stop using drugs. I would stop, but before long, I was using again and getting high.

 I was so angry at my parents, who told me that God would help me if I asked. I was also angry at my Catholic school teachers, who taught me the same thing -- that God would help me if I asked. I was especially angry one Sunday morning. I returned to church after being away from church for a very long time, and in his homily, the priest said that we should be persistent in prayer, never giving up, because God would help us if we asked.

But I wanted to give up. I could no longer trust God after he seemed to turn me down, or worse, ignore me, so many times before. After almost losing everything -- my home, my wife, my job -- I was at the end of my rope. After another terrible night of acting in ways that left me ashamed and empty and aching, I got down on my knees one more time, and I uttered two words: ‘God, help!’

There, on my knees in prayer, I felt something. I felt an inner click of willingness inside me. Something inside of me shifted, and trust was born again. It only took that moment, that one moment, and my recovery began. And now I’m glad for every prayer I have said along the way. It took all that praying -- not to change God, but to change me.”

Prayer may be one of the simplest, but also one of the most difficult, things that we as Christians do.  Prayer may also be a misunderstood concept of our faith. How many of us have been upset with God, or a parent, or teacher, or priest, who told us to be persistent in prayer because God would help if we asked? But, in our prayer, we could see nothing happening. The situation only remained the same. Imagine, though, if we had not put our hands together, or continued to come to church, or fallen to our knees in prayer. Where would be then?

All that prayer requires is practice and persistence.  Jesus encouraged an attitude of assertiveness with God in prayer.  Tell God what you need. Say to God what you want. 

Jesus uses the strange example of going to a friend in the middle of the night and asking for a loaf of bread.  But the story makes its point: persistence will pay off.  Even when it seems that no response comes, we must keep knocking on God’s door and asking for daily bread and nourishment in our lives. Without it, we will surely die. 

As Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, so he teaches us to pray: be persistent and keep practicing. Never give up on God because God never gives up on us. Prayer does work, no matter how or when the response may come, and the reason is simple -  because God cares. 

 








sdrose@bellsouth.net
9-13-2007