Continual Prayer
A while back, my husband and I visited some dear friends of ours who happen to own an ice cream shop housed in a beautiful, Victorian, former bank building in Port Huron, MI called The Vault. As we were enjoying dinner one evening, our friend received an interesting phone call from “professional eater” Randy Santel who wanted to come and try the “vault cracker” ice cream challenge at the sh
op. So, the next morning, we all gathered to watch this man who makes his living by conquering various food challenges around the world and posting the videos on you tube. The vault cracker challenge required him to eat 20 scoops of premium ice cream, with 5 toppings of his choice in less than one hour.
As I watched Randy start eating this enormous bowl of ice cream, I had thoughts such as “This is crazy… this is disgusting… why is he doing this….”
Then, as he continued shoveling his way through the mound, I noticed a change in my attitude. I was thinking, ” You can do it! Pace yourself! You’ve got this!”
When he seemed to struggle as he was nearing the bottom of the bowl, he was obviously quite full and each bite was difficult. At this point, I silently prayed, “Dear Lord, help him win this challenge. Please, Lord….help him.” And then I realized… I had just prayed and asked God to help a man be able to finish eating 20 scoops of ice cream in less than an hour! And, I observed to my friend standing next to me, “I think I just prayed perhaps the strangest prayer I have ever prayed.”
You Tube Video of Randy Santel eating the Vault Cracker challenge in less than one hour!
While that may have been the strangest prayer I have ever prayed, I actually pray some odd prayers quite often. When I hear a siren go by my house, I quickly send a prayer for the well being of the people involved in that emergency. When I make food for a poor and needy outreach, I pray that the food would be both sufficient and tasty for the guests. When I have extra time in airports, lobbies, or medical waiting rooms, I look around the room and just silently pray for those dear people that God has brought into my day. I have also prayed for the ability to like tea when I was in Ireland, for parking spaces in busy cities, even for ideas on what to cook for dinner. From a very early age, I have taken verses such as I Thess. 5:17 and Colossians 4:2 that say to “continue in prayer”, and “pray without ceasing” to heart by practicing continual prayer.
Abba, Father
God saved me at quite a young age, for which I am very grateful. One of the very first Scriptural truths that became real to me was that God was my father. My earthly father had left our family, leaving a great, gaping hole in my life. I had a wonderful Christian mother, great siblings, and a church that I loved, but still I yearned for a father. When I learned in church and through the Bible that being a Christian meant that God had adopted me as his child (Galatians 4:4-7), I was both amazed and thrilled that the almighty, everlasting, holy, just, omni-present, creator God would not only forgive my sins, but would also consider me as a joint-heir with his perfect son. In fact, I learned in Psalm 68:5 that one of the characteristics of God is to be a “father to the fatherless..” Through Christ, I had a father who not only provided for me, and loved me, but also walked with me through each day and LISTENED to my prayers. (This article, from gotquestions.org gives a nice overview of the Biblical teaching of God as a father to his children.)
Romans 8:15-16 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry,“Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”
When Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane just before his betrayal, Mark 14:6 tells us that he used the phrase, “Abba, Father”. This passage in Romans shows that we also, as believers, can address God as our Abba, Father. Recognizing God as my ever-present father has created in me a constant, conversational prayer life so that I cry out to God for help in danger, run to God with my hurts and disappointments, seek advice from God with my questions, praise God for things that are wonderful, and thank God as often as I can. It has been said that prayer for a Christian should be like spiritual breathing– constant, automatic, and necessary.
I am not saying that my prayer made a difference to Randy Santel as he devoured a gigantic bowl of ice cream in MI. Randy is a trained professional who works hard and knows what he is doing with regards to food challenges. However, my prayer made a difference to ME, because it reinforced once again that I have a father who is by my side, and cares about the details of my life… whether big or small, dire or mundane, normal or even… strange.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Phil. 4:6
And, if you are ever in Port Huron, MI– try out The Vault– you don’t have to eat 20 scoops!
With Joy,
Kathleen
Great reminder! I sometimes catch myself praying strange things as well. 🙂
Glad to know I’m not the only one! Thanks, Gloria!
Our Teaching pastor at the beginning of his series on prayer that we are still in asked us what we talk to God about. He brought up that we talk to ourselves so why not talk to God instead. When your going to ask yourself where do you want to go to eat. Ask God. He said it can help us realize that we can be in prayer constantly and it doesnt always have to look formal. I feel this goes along with your point.
That is exactly my point. Constant prayer is a realization that God is always with us, always near, and desires a relationship with us. It also allows us to see the events in our lives through the will of God as we consider our prayers, and His answers.
My most frequent prayer is for help finding missing things! LOL! But, the fact that God does lead me to the item I’m searching for is proof that He listens to even our silliest requests … and answers! I also learned to ‘pray without ceasing’ and it was probably from you a long time ago. We are called to pray not as the Pharisees who wanted to be noticed, but as God’s children who can come to Him at any time for any reason, knowing He will listen. Thanks for the great reminder!
Rhonda, I think that there were probably quite a few “strange” prayers back in the days when we were living together! Lol!