Episode #29 - Brother, Pray Like This

At dinner last night, Dane was not paying much attention during the prayer before we ate. Ava immediately took action, proceeding to walk her younger brother through what he is supposed to do during prayer. It was a sweet and touching moment as our children were teaching each other about talking to God. Well...we are all still learning how to pray. Even the apostles asked Jesus how to pray in their lives. Think about people who have impacted you with their prayers, what lessons have they taught you about what it means to pray?

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

Welcome to the Set Your Mind Above podcast, where every day, ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths! I am your host BJ Sipe, and I’m so glad you’ve tuned in today! I am excited to share my life & my faith with you, and I sure hope you’ll do the same with me along the way.

Today’s podcast again comes by way of inspiration of my children. As most of you know, I take Mondays off as a family day to spend time with my wife, my kids, and to get some things done. Yesterday happened to be a very productive day for us. I mowed the lawn, switched our insurance, and narrowed down our new car search while Kylie cycled through the laundry, did the dishes, and repainted the guest bathroom. Of course, in between it all was a lot of time spent playing with the kids both inside and outside, letting them work off all that energy. Well, after a long day of work and play, we sat down for dinner together at the family dinner table. I asked Ava who she wanted to pray for tonight, and she told me her usual – mommy, daddy, brother, and her. So we prayed, we thanked God for our family and many other things as we try to do in every prayer. Well, while I was praying, Dane was not paying much attention and was shoving his food in his mouth already, after all, he’s only a year and three months old. Apparently I was not the only one who noticed this, because as soon as we said amen, Ava pipped up! “No, no brother. We don’t play during prayer. Here, let me show you how to pray. Fold your hands…close your eyes…and pray!” Without hesitation, she started to pray right there for a second time, watching her brother to make sure he had his hand folded. Kylie and I just looked at each other and teared up slightly – it was the sweetest thing to witness as parents. Prayer is such an important part of our lives, and we have tried to model it correctly to our children every chance that we get. Well now here was our little girl, taking the opportunity to pass along what she had learned now to her younger brother. He’s just a baby & doesn’t know how to pray, he needs someone to teach him as he grows older. We are so thankful that apparently it won’t be just us, but also his adoring older sister that will be teaching him too. It might sound cliché, but I truly believe in the expression that a family that prays together stays together. Nothing will bring a family together more than time spent together reading God’s Word or time spent together bowing before his throne in prayer. 

I laid my head down before I slept last night and started with my own prayer, all the while thinking about what had happened earlier. As I did, I started to think about everyone that had modeled prayer for me as I was growing up. There have been people that I can remember that profoundly impacted me in how they taught me to pray. Of course it started with my own father and mother, who would pray with my brother and me every day. But then other names started coming to mind. Men like Wayne Rawlins, who to this day demonstrates the most humility and genuine spirit in a prayer I have ever heard. Men like Scott Hafer, who taught me what it means to lift holy hands during my private prayers, and to be transparent to my Father in heaven. Men like Randy Brock, who continues to teach me that sometimes the most powerful prayers are not long and complex, but are simply and pure in heart. As I thought about this, I realized that I still have much to learn about how to pray, and maybe you feel like that too. We are in good company, because even the apostles of Christ themselves were unsure of how to pray. Luke records in the eleventh chapter of his Gospel, “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:1-4) Often referred too as the Lord’s prayer, Jesus here was doing exactly what they had requested – teaching them how to pray. Certainly, Jesus was not saying that we ought to pray this exact prayer and nothing else, but he was drawing attention to the manner in which we ought to pray. The apostles certainly had been praying their whole life, and yet observing Jesus they saw something different that they were lacking. And so he taught them how to pray in an even better way. He taught them to pray with humility, to pray according to God’s will, to pray for their needs, to ask for forgiveness, and to pray for spiritual strength. Jesus would continue to teach them to pray in his ministry, as Luke would record later in his gospel how he taught them through parables how to pray and not lose heart in chapter 18. It was an ongoing lesson. I say all of this to say that I am still learning how to pray, and so are you. We all need to be teachable, to not just fall into the same pattern of prayer in our life. Just as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus in our faith, that growth will affect our prayer life so that we pray differently. This week, make a point to learn how to pray even more like we should. Open up the Psalms and allow King David to teach you how to pray. Open up the prophets and let men like Daniel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah teach you how to pray. Open up the Gospels and let Jesus through his ministry teach you how to pray. And even now, think of those whose prayers move you in an impactful way, and ask them if they would be willing to teach you how to pray. I’m so thankful for prayer, and I’m thankful for those that have taught me and will continue to teach me how to do it in my life. 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Friday’s, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and weekly video sessions that are uploaded on Saturdays. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above!