Call unto me, and I will answer thee,
and show thee great and mighty things,
which thou knowest not.
Jeremiah 33:3
In
past days, I have probably mentioned in my blogs any number of people
who were of great influence in my life. Such influence in my life
has often come to me in my latter years, while at times missing some
valuable spiritual input from younger years.
Three
ladies come to my mind who each taught me something vital about
prayer...Aunt Ida from my home church during my growing up years;
Granny Fancher, a very old lady who lived next door in an upstairs
room and Mrs. Vineyard who lived down the alley from the last house I
lived in before leaving home. The main thing I learned from them,
but didn't think to practice for many years was the act of praying
out loud. I personally witnessed this “spiritual art” in each of
their lives at different times in my growing up.
Granny
Fancher, during nice weather, would sit by an open, upstairs window, especially
in the evening. She had a kerosene lamp on a nearby table that for
the most part revealed only her physical form. Sometimes she would
sing hymns, without thought that anyone could be listening. Then I
would HEAR her pray. I remember she talked to God like He was
sitting right next to her. I was too little to understand it all,
but can still see her in that window.
Mrs.
Vineyard lived down and across the alley from our house. With only a
vacant field behind our house, her house was easily seen. Behind her
house was a large chicken yard with a chicken coop almost the size of
an average-size garage. Some neighborhood friends who lived nearer
to her house than I did, knew something I didn't know until a certain
day. As we were in my friend's back yard, she said, “There Mrs.
Vineyard goes again.” I learned from that girl that Mrs. Vineyard
would go into her chicken house and talk to herself. By now I'm
about 11 years old and a new Christian. I ventured down to Mrs.
Vineyards yard and into the chicken yard near enough to the door to
hear Mrs. Vineyard talking to herself. I quickly learned she wasn't
talking to herself, but to God. Just as quickly she saw me at the
door of the chicken house and called out to me...I ran for my life,
or so I thought at the time. I remembered some things I had heard
her say and it dawned on me that she was praying. Perhaps it was the
only private place she felt she had to meet with God to talk with
Him.
I
feel like I grew up with Aunt Ida who I look back upon and feel like
she was the matriarch of our small Baptist church. When churches
truly had Wednesday night prayer meetings, which we did, when prayer
time came, we could all count on Aunt Ida to stand and pray. I must
admit that at times one could almost hear a low groan from the young
people because when Aunt Ida prayed, she really P-R-A-A-A-Y-E-D.
Even in public though, one could tell that Aunt Ida was on speaking
terms with God. More than on those Wednesdays, I noticed something
else about Aunt Ida's praying. She lived hardly a half block from
our church. Sometimes when I walked to the church to do some organ
practice, I would deliberately walk by her house if it was nice
weather. I don't care the time of day, I could hear through a
screen door, Aunt Ida in her living room praying, pouring out her
heart to the Lord.
The
area in my spiritual walk where I have felt so weak has been in my
prayer life. Oh I pray and know God hears and answers, but so often
this part of my life is of personal disappointment. I'm the kind of
person who can have 20 things vying for my attention. Satan loves
that...distracting from anything of spiritual import. If I pray to
myself, my concentration isn't what it ought to be. However, when I
pray out loud, I'm almost forced just by the sound of my voice to
stay on track. I also wonder if God ever grows weary of our whispers.
We don't speak to anyone else in whispers, but the big majority of
time, we do with God.
A
sweet young friend recently put a suggested article on my Facebook. I
would challenge anyone interested in an improved prayer life to look
up this article. It is entitled “Stop Having Quiet Times” by
David Powlison. I must admit the title took me back abit, but it
very much goes along with what I've said to this point.
In
this article, he reminded me that Jesus prayed aloud. If He hadn't,
how would the disciples have known to ask Jesus to “Teach us to pray.”
Daniel, prayed aloud three times a day at an open window, knowing he
faced execution for doing such a thing. Most of the Psalms are
written to be read or prayed aloud, not in a whisper or under one's
breath.
I'm
not saying it's wrong to pray silently. God hears us even in a
whisper. God hears us no matter as to volume, but we benefit when we
hear our own words spoken to our Father. We see folks in Scripture
who prayed some prayers silently, usually when hearts were to broken
to form words orally. That can be the case for us at times as well.
Most
of us are living with someone else in the same house, so praying
aloud may need to be planned. I have found I can pray in a very low
voice while taking a bath, sitting on my porch or other places I
might not want to be at full voice. Mr. Powlison made a statement
that made so much sense: “When you talk aloud you express the
reality that you're talking with someone else, not simply talking to
yourself inside your own head.”
We
are encouraged in God's Word to cry out to God, shout for joy, sing
aloud along with many other admonitions. I must say in these months
that my prayer times have taken on new life. We all have our prayer
lists, folks we've been asked to pray for or personal concerns that
no one else knows anything about. Let's do ourselves a favor in
enriching our prayer lives by SPEAKING UP and SPEAKING OUT.
Father,
I love You and love when I can talk with You at any time,
anywhere...lifting up my voice to you in praise, concern and just in
general conversation. Thank You for this wonderful privilege granted
to me by Your love for me. Thank you for wanting to listen to me.
In Jesus precious name....Amen
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