Tuesday, May 3

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

One of the churches my father pastored as I was growing up always had a Wednesday night “Prayer Meeting.” Since our family lived in a home that was connected to the church building, we knew every nook and cranny of both the church facility as well as our own living quarters. We knew, for example, that the upstairs closet in our guest bedroom was located directly over the church sanctuary. We also knew that there were several small knot-holes in the floor of that closet that were large enough for us to be able to see through – and therefore to “spy” on whatever was going on in the sanctuary below.

While Prayer Meeting was in session one Wednesday night, my brother and I, about 10 and 7 years old respectively, escaped our baby-sitter’s attention long enough to bombard several faithful “prayer warriors” with small paper wads dropped through the knot-holes in the guest room closet floor. We thought it was great fun to try to drop the tiny bits of paper so that they lodged in the hair or the ladies who were kneeling some 20 feet below. It never occurred to us that the church-folk would immediately know who lay behind this strange paper-wad phenomenon – because they all know that my brother and I were the only kids in the whole church with access to that part of the building!

Eventually one of the “church ladies” mentioned the “falling paper wad phenomenon” to my mother, who then confronted us about our activities that night.  At that point she uttered the most feared words in our childhood vocabulary; “Just wait until your father gets home!” Then my brother and I had our own prayer meeting!

Prayer was always part of my family as we were growing up – not just in the church’s Wednesday night prayer meeting (which we rarely attended – because we tended to either fall asleep or get in trouble for being too “squirrelly”) – but at home. We prayed before every meal; we prayed before going to school; we prayed at bed time. I can remember my mother praying at my bedside, asking God to care for the woman that I would someday marry while I thought to myself, “Mom, I’m only 12!!” But prayer was as much a part of our home life as it was our church life, which helped prayer become a natural part of my life.

Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Those two little words, “in everything” are pretty important. I think he means that not only can we pray about anything in our lives, but also that prayer is to be as much a part of our lives as eating and breathing. Prayer isn’t just a religious activity to be practiced once a week at church – it’s a relationship that is to permeate our daily lives; at home, at the office, in the car, at ballgames, at school or at church.

Ask God to help you make prayer as much a part of your home as other everyday activities – like meal times – or even T.V.!

Brian Coffey