Little Thoughts August 7th, 2024

By Pastor Sammy Little, First Baptist Church of Stowell

The one element of life on earth that Christians do not access the most would be prayer. One could argue for other things: Holy Spirit, Bible, forgiveness, but allow me to make my argument for prayer. Luke 11:5 starts a parable about prayer where a man with a guest that comes at midnight and needs some bread for the traveler, and he has a friend that has some bread so he goes and wakes his friend and demands the bread. “Get up! I don’t care if your family is asleep, I need the bread!” And the friend gets up and gets him the bread. That’s a picture of God. Not that we should be bossing Him around or rude to Him, but He is a friend that wants to be involved in whatever you, a believer and adopted child, are about. We generally don’t pray like that. We ask for what we have earned and cover up our failures and confusion. God wants us to use Him. Prayer is more than just throwing words and requests at God. It is being friends with Him. We talk to our friends. We take advantage of them. We can do that with friends. We need prayer. You alone are your limited power and knowledge, while prayer is you and God as a team. So God will give you whatever you want? Of course not. But whatever you ask for that is good and wise and won’t hurt you, yes! God won’t give you what is evil. He’s your friend.