"Don't Leave Yet, Lord"

Tina and Sue, five-year-old twins, were saying their prayers before crawling into bed. Sue prayed first, and as she was about to end her prayer, said, “Don’t leave just yet, Lord, Tina has something to add.”

The Psalmist assured us that our God will always be there when we need Him. “Because He turned His ear to me,” he wrote, “I will call on Him as long as I live.” God is waiting to do His part but we must be willing to do ours.

An important element in prayer is companionship. We must keep company with God. Charles Spurgeon, who was considered the “Prince of Preachers,” put it this way: “Not an hour passes during my day but that I am in conscious communion with my Lord.” Prayer, to him, was as important as breathing: He could not live without it.

When we pray we are in communication with God. There are two parts in effective communication: sending and receiving. Unfortunately, for many, prayer is a one-way operation: sending. We are anxious, often driven, when things are bad, to go to God in prayer. We send our needs to Him because we know He “turns His ear to us.” But we must also “tune our ear” to Him by spending time with Him in His Word. The writer of Psalm 119 said that His Word is a “lamp to my feet and a light for our path.” When we read His Word we allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts, open our minds and find answers to the needs we take to God in prayer.

For our prayers to be effective we must stay as close to God as we do with our best friend: we talk - we listen.

Prayer: Lord, may we become as attentive to Your voice as You are to ours. May we walk close to You each day. In Jesus’ Name.

Scripture for Today: Psalm 116:2 Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.