Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:5-13, Luke 18:1-14, John 15:7, Romans 12:12, Hebrews 4:14-16
Sometimes, kids just need their dad. Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with a great one. I know that’s not everyone’s story, but I am grateful it’s mine. Through every up and down, my dad has never been farther than a phone call away. Physical distance has never been a match for the bond we share.
Even now, when my kids are grown and starting to have kids of their own, I still reach out to my father when I’ve got a question or a problem. I trust his wisdom because he seems to be right more times than not. And I know that he wants nothing but the best for me and my family.
Of course, our relationship didn’t just happen. We didn’t stumble across some kind of secret sauce for relationships. We’ve done a lot of life together, and the investment of time has brought us closer. More than anything, we’ve learned how to talk to one another.
In Romans 12, Paul challenged his readers to pursue that kind of relationship with their heavenly Father through prayer. And like my relationship with my dad, time and two-way communication were key factors.
At the end of verse 12, Paul encouraged them to “be persistent in prayer.” That word that is translated “persistent” carries a lot of weight. It implies attending to something with intentionality, being devoted to what is in front of you and not being moved from it. It involves intensity and focus.
Honestly, that’s really what makes prayer such an effective tool for believers. It’s one thing to say a quick prayer, but persistent prayer stays the course over time. Persistent prayer means talking to God and listening for His voice even when it feels like our words are bouncing off the ceiling or our tears are met with extended silence.
Scripture is filled with challenges to persevere in prayer. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenged His listeners to be persistent in prayer because God really was listening. He urged them to spend time in their quiet spaces, calling out to Him and listening for His response. He promised that the One who hears those secret prayers will answer when the time is right (Matthew 6:5–6).
And the anonymous writer of Hebrews reminded readers that believers enjoy direct access to the Father. Through Jesus, we can enter His presence with boldness and ask Him to meet our needs. Even if we come again and again, He never gets annoyed and never tires of hearing what we have to say. He understands, and He cares. Best of all, He stands ready to answer for our good and His glory.
Sometimes, God’s kids just need their heavenly Father. Investing time with Him, sharing our hearts and listening for His voice, makes all the difference in the world. Persistence never comes easily, but it does lead to God’s best for our lives. And it teaches us how we can put our faith into practice for a world that really needs to see what a genuine relationship with God looks like.
Written by Bob Bunn
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52 thoughts on "Prayer"
When we teach and guide our kids about prayer, we ask them some questions 1st to get them thinking about what they want to pray about (such as what they are thankful for, what they are sorry for, and who needs help), and then they pray about those things in their own words. We also use the word P.R.A.Y. (Praise, Repent, Ask, and Yield) to help them remember the kinds of ways they can pray.
I love hearing their precious heartfelt words. The younger ones can even be the sweetest because of how simple their faith is. And I think that is also such a beautiful picture of how God feels when he hears us pray. The simple straight from the heart prayers probably warm His heart, just like it warms our parent hearts hearing our children pray. ❤️
Love this idea! ❤️
We are in a world that needs to see genuine relationships with God. To see the peace that we only receive from Him. To see faithful prayers lives. To see God’s love pour out of us.
Also years ago I had a prayer journal. It really was helpful. I also remember a teacher in BSF saying that Jesus is sitting in your living room every day. We just walk on by and ignore him.
Hello Shes
Speaking of song shares, the devotional today struck the following chord in me. From the genius soul singer & song writer, Stevie Wonder. It may be “old school”, but the sentiment is fresh!
“Have a Talk with God”
(Songs in the Key of Life album, 1976) (First Stanza)
“There are people who have let the problems of today
Lead them to conclude that for them life is not the way
But every problem has an answer, and if yours you cannot find
You should talk it over to Him
He’ll give you peace of mind
When you feel your life’s too hard
Just go have a talk with God”.
May we find our own theme songs or entryway into two-way conversation with the Higher Power.
Another phrase that comes to mind, repeated by my pastor, is “the one who sings prays twice”.
Have a transformative Thursday!
Be lifted! Sing loudly!
From Jim Denison’s daily article today which goes along with our study:
“Every description of the church in the New Testament is collective:
a body with many members (1 Corinthians 12:12),
a vine with many branches (John 15:1–7), and so on. There are no solos in the book of Revelation.
1) pray for each other (Ephesians 6:18),
2) confess our sins to each other (James 5:16),
3) forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32),
4) encourage each other (Hebrews 10:24–25),
5) worship together (Colossians 3:16), and
6) work together (Ephesians 4:16). In short, “Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT).”
Song share for today is “In the Garden”.
My brother was in his final hours of life here on earth and had been unresponsive for several days. This song was playing in his room and all of a sudden he started singing along. I have a video of it and it brings tears every time I listen.
The persistent widow. This brought so many memories of the past. wish I had longer to share. BUT God knows. And I’m healing from past memories. I’m out of time, and I started this devo early. My heart aches this morning, missing my kiddos so much. I’m not trying to get attention, but I feel alone, BUT know that I am not alone. The persistent widow reminds me of how GOOD good is to my children and I. He as provided for us in so many ways. AND many as you know are miracles! MY JESUS has been taken care of us since the day we left that man. Speaking of which as I mentioned yesterday, court again on Tuesday. I DISLIKE going to court. Gotta go sweeties love you all so much.
Praying for you, Mari, as you go to court. Praying the Lord goes before you and prepares your path and gives you peace and grace.
I was there just last year, Mari. It was lonely but also kind of nice to have my own space for the first time since 1990. My daughter’s weekend visits really helped, as did finding reasons to get out of the house. This year, her big sister moved back home again; so I am not as lonely, but there are other stressors. Like how to parent a child who has lived on her own for several years but still needs guidance. And in a small space. I will keep you in my prayers as you adjust to this new season. I’m never a fan of change, even when I know it’s necessary and good. But we can walk through this together. ❤️
Nehemiah:1:3-4
3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”
4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
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David pleaded with God often. Hannah is another great example, and how about Elizabeth and Zechariah? Many others!
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Our prayers may not be answered as we expected, but always for our good and His glory. That’s one of the hardest truths to accept with peace, and that comes with maturity.
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SONG SHARE:
Matthew West – Don’t Stop Praying (Music Video)
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Love, hugs, and prayers! ❤
Cee Gee, thank you for sharing Nehemiah. We are working our way through Nehemiah at church. I love Nehemiah. He did nothing without prayer. What a model he is!
That song came too mind too! ❤️
Relationships take time, work, patience, love, discipline and so much more. I treasure my relationship with Jesus and desire for it to grow deeper every day.
Love you ladies and so thankful for you all.
We always need our Heavenly Father!! Prayer is so important to stay connected to Him.
This really reminded me that prayer isn’t just something I’m supposed to do it’s how I build my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Just like any relationship, the more time I spend talking, listening, and coming back to Him, the closer I become. I love the reminder that I can keep coming to God, even when I don’t have the right words or when it feels like He’s silent. He never gets tired of hearing from His children.
❤️ I always tell people that prayer is my love language. It is my best offering to others (intercession) and God.
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Thanks in everything
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:11. Our faithful father will always give us what is good for us. I think maybe sometimes we have to be persistent in prayer to understand what he is giving us is what is good for us. He is a good, good father. He is more concerned with the salvation of our soul and us being with him in eternity. I start to feel like I don’t have any faith at all when I feel like my prayers aren’t being answered my way. As I look back on my life, I can see that the struggle was all about the renewing of my heart and mind. Making me more like Jesus., Answering my prayer in the best way for me. One of the verses I took away from the New Testament study was 1 Thes 5:16-17, Rejoice always, pray, continually, give things and everything for this is God‘s will for you in Christ Jesus❤️
The really made me think about my prayer life and my struggles with it differently. Thank you for sharing❤️
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The 1 Thessalonians verse was what I was planning to share — you beat me to it!! :)❤️
I love talking about prayer! My prayer life was definitely shallow until a few years ago. Let me tell you about it (lol)
I was in my first small group at a new church 5 years ago and the teacher said now partner up and pray for each other! I was like…uh..I have never prayed for someone…like out loud over them. Now I laugh about that, but was mortified at the time. I was conditioned to pray silently in my head and let the fancy word people do the praying out loud. Well that changed everything for my prayer life. I learned MANY Christians don’t pray out loud because it’s just not in the comfort zone. So I had to step out in faith and start opening my mouth. In my own prayer time..and with others. The word says “Pray for others and with each other. I ended up using my small group to talk about this and I called it “Practicing Prayer.” We did a dive into praying and actually practiced praying out loud each week to get more comfortable. It was good. I used two good books. “Before Amen” by Max Lucado (really good!!) and “Battle Plan for Prayer” by the Kendrick brothers that did the movie War Room. It is really good to to break up prayers into different categories.
Prayer is powerful. We have to realize that it is a PRIVILIDGE to be able to have conversation with the ALMIGHTY God, creator of heaven and earth. The Jewish people had to travel to the temple and go through a priest. We are after Jesus, the veil was torn giving us access!!! That is huge, and should never be forgotten that we can pray and God hears us through our intermediate Jesus! It’s a gift, and a treasure, and beautiful.
But it’s meant to be a relationship. We talked about this at jail yesterday. That we often don’t have that relationship. We are busy in our lives, barely thinking about God, and then bam, we need help, and we call out to God…help me Lord, I NEED you! Luckily, he hears those that call upon him. (although I do encourage believers to do a dive into prayers that God DOESN’T listen to!) If you have kids, it’s always a good analogy to think about how you would love your kids just to want to be with you, expecting nothing. I would love for my 26 year old just to call to say How are you mom? What’s up with you, got any wise words for me? Anything I can do FOR YOU!! Can we spend lunch together!? lol, how great would that be. Yet, when he texts I know he wants our needs something! But I still love him just as much and want to help him and hear his plea!
Prayer is relational. A few more things that help my prayer life is yes, a specific prayer area. (prayer closet) Mine happens to be at a little area in my yard. It used to be at the dock every morning where I would stretch and praise and worship, and pray. How ever it can be just you and the Lord.
Another is prayer journaling. Some find it hard not to get distracted. Write down who you are praying for, and how or what. Your own prayer requests. Or even journaling in paragraph form.
Praying out loud helps me not get distracted. And helps me hear my voice, and readies me to pray for others! Practice, sounds silly, but that’s how you get confident. Then just stepping out in action!! God can’t make you pray, it’s a choice!!
Petition over and over! In the scripture, it read to me that we WILL annoy God until he gives it to us. But the author says no, we don’t annoy him. Again, the mother to a toddler comes to mind.
Being in a small group can really help your prayer life. I discovered, when we had a true prayer warrior and she had the gift of prayer (that is one of the gifting- some are gifted, yet we are ALL called to pray!). And she set me ablaze on truly praying offensively against the devil!! It is Spiritual Warfare…and many Christians are oblivious of this!! We have to pray against the devil and pray for ourselves against attacks and footholds and pray for deliverance and salvation for our loved ones and for Israel, and the nations.
Change up your prayer life. We can pray all day at all times, which is wonderful. But also do different, praying over meals with your family, praying before bedtime on your knees, Praising him in the morning with songs (I pray as I’m singing along when the lyrics mean something specific to me!)
And of course…a biggie, bring your request here and LET others share in what YOU need!! We are told to join together. LET people in, let them know what you need. It is a gift and a blessing for others to be able to pray for you!!
Thank you for the resources and practical application!
For relationships to be healthy whether human or heavenly, they all need an investment in time, a willingness or vulnerability to share our hearts, and listening—— maybe the hardest part. In Romans 12:12 it says
A consistent prayer life brings hope.
Thank you God for listening to me, help me invest time with you, share my heart and listen for your voice❤️
Yes, you NAILED it!
Good points; great reminders.
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Thankful for these particular scriptures and commentary today as well as you, my sweet She Sisters. Today is five years since my husband passed away… I’m so grateful for all of your prayers during this time for peace and comfort for me and my two adult children and the blessing that you are/have been to us.❤️
Additionally, I wanted to share something some of us have commented about.. missing
Churchmouse and her valuable insight.
Last night I was reading several of her screenshots I had taken and I Googled whether we have access to those prior comments and various studies. I was surprised to find out that all of our previous studies are archived on the She Reads Truth website with comments from all our sweet friends who are no longer with us.❤️
Love you all!!❤️
Oh yes, I actually laugh about it that all my comments are there, for better or worse! lol. I told my husband after I pass he can just go to the archives and read my thoughts, lol.
I always thought Churchmouse might surprise us and pop back on, but it has been a long time now. And I miss others- our Dear Dorothy that is now in the Kingdom. Chris, JenniferlovesJesus, and I would love to know how life is going for Sarah H.
Hard to believe it’s been 5 years already. I always think of you when I think of widows and praying and helping widows. I have several friends, they have a small group where they just gather at one’s house every other Wed and just share a meal together and talk.
There was another woman I beleive named Kim that used to put in beautiful poetry that she wrote. Do you remember her or know if she is still around?!
It’s hard to believe 5 years has gone by! I’m sure you are much more acutely aware of the passage of time than others further removed from the intense grief and missing. Grateful to be with you on the journey, however distantly ❤️
Prayers for you and your family today, sweet Martha. I pray sweet memories overide the grief. Sending hugs! ❤
Praying for you, Martha. ❤️
Praying for you!
Prayers Martha.
“Persistence never comes easily, but it does lead to God’s best for our lives. And it teaches us how we can put our faith into practice…”
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Whenever I read the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-6, I think of my prayers for my two adult prodigal sons. Daily I beg God to work in their hearts, convict them of sin and draw them to Him with His “cords of love”. I will pray this prayer until it’s answered or until I go home to be with the Lord. I will never give up! I pray that I get to see an answer in my lifetime.
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I had to smile when I read, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father…” As this is my practice each day – I go up to my bedroom, close the door and get on my knees before God – it is my sacred place.
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VBS – last night we had 8 kids!! Tonight it will be lower as 2 of the girls leave for vacation today, but – maybe God will bring a few new tonight!
Thank you She’s for all your prayers for our VBS – “Blast to the Past – Back To The Beginning, The Story Of Creation”. They are SO MUCH APPRECIATED!!!
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Happy Thursday She’s! ❤️
I love that it went from 1 to 8!! Praise God! What an impact on 8 kids it will be!! And on the helpers! Go out today and talk about it with more mothers! 2 more nights! They might want a night out tomorrow night and take you up on it!
Love that you go to your “prayer closet” EVERY day. I have just recently in the last year or two, started getting on my knees. It brings reverence I feel, and a new level of my prayer.
I’m with you, praying for my three adult sons everyday, Sharon ❤️. Thank you for your work bringing the good news to children with VBS❤️
Excited to see how God is working! One summer we were not in church so I held a week of Bible school in our backyard. I called it Backyard Bible Study. There were only 3 but they were faithful. I followed the usual format, but no themed study. Wish I had my notes from those lessons! ❤
Keep praying for the VBS!!
That’s pretty amazing! I don’t know of any other VBS with an 8-fold increase in attendance. ❤️ May God continue to bless those children through your faithfulness.
I loved the devotional today. Prayer is our conversation with God! It’s not one sided, it’s relational. We listen, we pray, we listen to God not just talking at God. Makes me think of the. Old song- “Have a little talk with Jesus!”
Praying for all!
“Persistence never comes easily, but it does lead to God’s best for our lives.”
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Thank you, Bob for the reminder.
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Thankful that God always hears me when I talk to Him. Now if I would do the same and listen every time He tells me something!
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Song “Rest in Me” from the “Traveling Light” album comes to mind. You can find it on YouTube.
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May the Lord bless you today.
Thank you, Kelly, for the song selection today. I just watched it on YouTube. So good.
Amen!
Good morning! I also appreciated the connection that Bob made in the article and talked about the two-way communication and time that we make for the Lord in prayer. Making connections with scripture and when we go into our private “room “we are giving ourselves time and waiting for God and looking forward to that to a communication that we seek ❤️
Amen!
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How is my relationship with Him? Is it persistent? Is it one that shows my devotion to Him? Is the communication a two-way street?
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There is a lot that can be improved. That is for certain!
“There is a lot that can be improved. That is for certain!” I think this can be said of us all – at least, I know it can for me…He’s not finished with us yet!