What a wonderful privilege it is to be able to pray to God. Straight to him. Did you know that there are some Christians(?) who don't pray. Or at best, only a short memorized prayer for saying when called upon to lead a public prayer.
I recall when I was a small boy and we attended services at a small rural congregation with only 4 or 5 adult men in attendance, when one would be called on to lead a prayer. Sometimes this one would say, "I'm going to ask brother John to lead the prayer". and brother John would do the same thing to another brother, who would pass it to still another. And sometimes when they ran out of brethren, the last one would say, "No, you go ahead". Then that one would be about stuck with it and would mumble a few words too softly to be understood.
Although somewhat amusing, it is really very pathetic. I suspect (and hope) that most of that was brought on because many of them were not well educated and I feel they were embarrassed and self conscious of their inability to speak well. Until this day, I find it more difficult to word a public prayer than a private one. I'm not as concerned that God will misunderstand my stammering and poor grammer as I am that those surrounding me will. But whatever the occasion, we ought to always pray without ceasing and not worry about anyone other the one we are addressing.
02/03/02 JHH
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