“Master, teach us to pray…” Luke 11:1
“Serve the LORD with gladness.” Psalms 100:2
October 12, 2020 - Mother and Daddy didn’t attend church till I was a teenager, but they both taught us to pray and read the Bible to us when we were young. Bill and I were taught to pray a prayer before meals, "Dear Father, Bless the food we take and bless us all for our Jesus' sake." But most of the time, Daddy “asked the blessing.” His prayer was not loud, was very short, and was always the same: “Dear Lord, make us thankful, but how wonderful it is to look forward to the Lord's day and as David said, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the House of the Lord."
The third prayer that I especially remember was the prayer that Pam taught our twin granddaughters when they were about four years old. Before meals, they loved to say it together, "God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. Amen." One summer when they visited us, Zoe said, “Meme, can we say a different prayer today? It’s still a prayer to God. We learned it in Vacation Bible School.” Then we all held hands and the girls prayed in perfect unison, "But give honor to Christ in your hearts as your Lord; and be ready at any time when you are questioned about the hope which is in you." (1 Peter 3:15)
I have prayed the same exact prayer before meals all of my adult life. Pam and I hold hands and pray, “Dear Lord thank you for our food. May it be blessed for the good of our bodies, Amen." And I don’t feel guilty in repeating the same prayer before meals because I mean every word of my prayer every time. The value of our prayers are not dependent on how long we pray or how loud we pray, but must be sincere. If our heart prays it right, our mouth can’t pray it wrong.
