Spending time in prayer, alone with God, has been one of the wisest decisions I have ever made. As I look back, my only regret is that I did not spend more time praying.
Only one man ever ridiculed me for praying. That man had been admitting his sinful past to me, even confessing that he felt he had been “a Judas.” When I offered to pray for him, he replied, “You can pray if you like, but I don’t believe there is anyone out there listening.” Though I was stunned by his words, I prayed anyway, although I had no way of proving to the man that God was listening.
Some folks think of prayer as “talking to God.” It is that, but it is also listening to God. Prayer is having a conversation with almighty God, whom Jesus described as “our heavenly Father.” Jesus urged his disciples to “ask” God to do things, in the name of Jesus. So prayer is a two-way exchange, both talking and listening, in communication with the God who is a caring Father.
Fence posts cannot communicate. Human beings can express their desires and feelings with others. And since God is a Person, human beings can communicate with Him, and He, in turn, with them. Prayer, then, is one of the greatest privileges of being a human being. And while a person can sometimes act like a fence post, a fence post can never experience the incredible joy of listening and talking to the Father God, who created the heavens and the earth.
It is a grievous mistake to think of prayer as only talking to God, or as only listening to God. God the Father wants his children to talk to Him. Why else would Jesus have encouraged us to “ask” his Father to hear and answer our prayers? This Jesus did many times, as the gospels attest.
President Richard Nixon had a limited understanding of prayer. Charles Colson shared in one of his books how Nixon once talked to him about prayer:
“When I was eight or nine years old, I asked my grandmother, a very saintly woman, a little Quaker lady, who had nine children – I asked her why it was that Quakers believed in silent prayer.”
Nixon went on the explain, “When we sat down to the table, we always had silent prayers; and often at church, while we sometimes had a minister or somebody got up when the Spirit moved him, we often just went there and just sat, and we prayer.”
“Her answer,” Nixon said, “was very interesting and perhaps it explains why Lincoln prayed in silence. My grandmother spoke to me on this occasion, as she always did to her grandchildren and children, with the plain speech. She said, ‘What thee must understand, Richard, is the purpose of prayer is not to tell God what thee wants, but to find out from God what He wants from thee.”
While there is obvious truth in the Quaker grandmother’s answer, that is not the whole story, for Jesus taught that God is our Father and delights to have his children both listen and talk to Him.
Many years ago, I decided to make an appointment with God – the same time every day. And to take that appointment as seriously as I would one that I might make with any other person.
I began to spend that time the same way I would with another person – talk and listen. I confessed my sins. I shared my heartaches. I asked for grace and guidance. I used a daily devotional to get our conversation going. The first such devotional I used was My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. It was so helpful that I have continued reading it now for more than 60 years. Two other books that have blessed me are Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon, and In Christ by E. Stanley Jones. In recent years the book by Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies, has been most helpful.
I have written down thoughts that my Father was saying to me – persons to pray for, ideas to ponder, sins I needed to confess, sermons to preach, ways I could be a blessing to others. Each day I have asked God to show me what He wanted me to do, guide me in decisions I had to make, and to give me the grace to love and pray for the difficult persons in my life.
This daily appointment with my Father has blessed in a thousand ways. One of the most significant is the sense of living a guided life. Over the years I sought, without a sense of divine guidance, two positions on my own; I was turned down for both. In everything else I have felt my Father was opening doors for me and sending me where He wanted me to serve Him.
Have I sometimes missed my appointment with my Father? Yes, with sadness I must admit there have been days when I failed to keep my appointment. But each time, my Father assured me of His forgiveness and invited me to resume my covenant to meet with Him each day. He has been so good at helping me overcome guilt and start over again.
In these days of my 92nd year, I am finding peace in my daily appointment with my Father. Though I now have cancer, cancer does not have me; my Father has me. And each day He reminds me to continue trusting Him, confident that when my numbered days are complete, He will be with me, holding my hand as I close my eyes for the last time.
At that moment I will need no longer this body that has served me well for so many years. I will have a new body and as I awaken, my new eyes will behold my living Savior, and my new ears will hear Him say, “Welcome Home Walter; let me show you the place I have prepared for you in the Father’s House.”
Until then I will keep my daily appointment with my Father, to share my concerns with Him and to listen for His guidance. These appointments mean so much, for in each one He strengthens my faith, enlarges my hope and fills me with His love. And I find myself praising Jesus that He would love even me, and give me the honor of serving Him until that sweet chariot arrives to carry me home!