Uncle Jeff was driving back from church this particular Sunday morning and Bobby and Sarah had climbed in beside him.
“What was the preacher talking about this morning?” Uncle Jeff asked after they had gone past the first set of traffic lights. Sarah was quiet. “He was talking about why we should pray”, Bobby said, “But I didn’t really get what he meant.”
“Did you know what he meant, Sarah?” Uncle Jeff asked.
“Yes,” she replied, “He was saying that just as Jesus prayed to God, so that is why we should pray too.”
“That’s right,” said Uncle Jeff. “Do you remember what some of the reasons Jesus prayed were?”
“Well, sometimes He prayed all night”, Bobby piped up.
“That’s right Bobby,” said Uncle Jeff, “But can you remember what some of the things He prayed about were?”
“Well, before He chose His twelve disciples, He prayed for God to show Him which ones to choose”, Sarah said.
“Yes, He did,” Uncle Jeff said, “Why do you think that He chose Judas then, when he was the one who would tell on Him?”
“It was part of God’s plan for one of them to do it, and Judas was the one,” Sarah said.
“That’s exactly it,” Uncle Jeff said as he turned into the road that led to their street. “What else did Jesus pray for Bobby?”
“Well, He always gave thanks for the food before He ate it,” Sarah said,
“Oh, is that why we always say grace before we start eating?” Bobby asked.
“It sure is”, said Uncle Jeff as he pulled into their driveway, “And that makes me feel hungry! Let’s go inside!”
Later on, after lunch, Sarah said, “Is it important how we sit to pray, Uncle Jeff?”
“Let’s have a look how Jesus did it,” he said, “Get your Bible and turn to Matthew chapter twenty-six and verse thirty-nine….what does that say?”
“He got down with His face on the ground to pray”, Bobby said after reading it. “So what does that tell us?” Uncle Jeff said.
“It tells us that He was very serious about what He was praying for”, Sarah said, “It must be showing us that we must really mean what we are saying, and not just gabbling something off.”
“There is something else too,” Uncle Jeff said, “There are some people in the world that are so serious about their religion that they all get down on their knees with their faces on the ground and their hands spread out in front of them, and pray like that five times a day!”
“Wow!” said Bobby, “I guess that if they do that, we should do the same thing when we pray to God because He is the one true God isn’t He Uncle Jeff?”
“Yes,” said Uncle Jeff, “And at least we know that our God hears our prayers because He has told us to pray for each other. If He has told us that, He must be glad to hear our prayers, eh?”
“I guess so,” Sarah said slowly, “But I sometimes think that my prayers don’t get far.”
“I think we all feel like that at times, Sarah”, Uncle Jeff said, “But we are to remember that God loves to hear His children talking to Him, just as much as your Mum and Dad love to hear you telling them about all the things that have happened each day. So because of that reason on its own, surely we must take time to talk to God every day! “
“That’s something we can make for this new year’s resolution, isn’t it Uncle Jeff?” Bobby said.
“It surely is, let’s all make up our minds to do it better than we have before”, he said.
“Doesn’t the Bible tell us to pray for each other too?” Sarah asked, “I guess that is a good enough reason to pray too….I never thought about it like that before. So it doesn’t really matter how we pray as long as we DO it!”
“That’s it, my girl,” Uncle Jeff said, “It’s no use just talking about what we should do or might do…..we have to get to work and DO it!”