I remember as a child, my mom or my dad taking me to bed and telling me to say my prayers. As a child, prayers were simple. My dad, a Baptist preacher, taught me to talk to God like I was talking to him. Thank God for what I was given. Ask God to watch over me. Ask God to bless me and those I loved. Then tell God what bothered me. These prayers grew as I grew.
My parents were never wealthy or even financially secure. I know they lived paycheck to paycheck most of my dad's life. He never lost faith no matter how hard the times. My mom, although a little more dramatic, never lost faith. The one thing that they always told their children no matter what the problems, pray. Thank God for what you have. Ask God to watch over your family and to bless those that you love.
My father has been dead for over 25 years. I am now becoming an old man. I know that my father still prays for me. My mother tells me she prays for me. The advice she still gives to her children me is never lose faith. No matter what your problems you can bring them to God and offer them in prayer.
This is what Abraham did. He saw the problems and drew closer to God. He petitioned God for the people of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham bargained with God to save the cities and to protect the good people despite the bad. God heard Abraham. The people of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, however, did not hear God.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gives his disciples a very basic version of the Lord's prayer. Praise God. Ask God for your basic needs. Ask God to bless you and those around you with forgiveness. Ask God to protect you from the bad that is in the world.
I have known both of these types of prayer. There have been times in my life that I have bargained with God. Like Abraham, I tried to make God come to my terms and maybe God did, but I may have been like the peoples of those condemned cities and did not hear God.
As my faith grew, most of my prayers became like the one that Jesus gave his disciples. It is a prayer that I try to live in every moment of my life. I remember that it is the same simple prayer my parents taught and believed. I looked back and realized that I have always lived by this example. I thank God for my blessings. I ask God to protect me and the ones I love. In my prayers, I am seeking. I am knocking. I am persistent.
As I have grown older, my prayers become more like the prayers of my childhood. The prayers that my parents taught me. In the same simple way to pray that Jesus showed his disciples.
How do I pray? I pray always seeking. I pray always knocking. I pray persistently. I pray with a simple childlike heart. The is a difference between now and that child almost 50 years ago. Now, I know that in Jesus Christ everyone is loved. I know that Jesus love me so much, that his prayers and his life were given for me. So, how do I pray? Hopefully, like Jesus, simple, with my whole heart in forgiveness and love for everyone.
If you have a child or a grandchild or bother or a sister pray with them so they learn to pray. If you think you do not know how to pray, pray in the simplest way. God knows your heart. How do you pray? Just begin.
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