Did You Think to Pray?

One question my husband frequently asked so many as well as himself was, Did you think to pray? Throughout the Bible we are exhorted to pray about everything; and yet, as in the words of my husband: We work, we run here and there, but we take so little time to pray.  I remember so many accounts of my husband asking the question, Did you think to pray, and one such time was when the bus mechanic, at the church my husband was attending, had been working all day to fit a part into the engine of one of the buses, and just couldn’t get the part to go in.  It was in a precarious place and the placement had to be placed just right for it to fit. My husband had been at the church that day and coming upon that man under the bus, he greeted him with a hardy hello and how’s it going? Well, the response, as you can imagine, was one of sheer frustration paired with exhaustion.  When my husband asked the man if he had thought to pray, his reply was, You know Brother Williams, I sure didn’t.  He crawled out from under the bus, the two of them prayed, and in moments the part went on without any more trouble.   Another time when he asked that question was when the man working for him couldn’t get the pump to the water fountain in the small pond on his property to work.  Again it had been hours that the man had been working on it when he came to Dr. Williams, and said, Brother Williams, I just can’t seem to get it fixed. You guessed it, Dr. Williams asked, Did you think to pray? The response—No, I didn’t.  The two of them stopped to pray, and soon after, the pump was working and the water was flowing down the fountain.

I have heard my husband say a number of times to me, We didn’t think to pray, let’s pray.  Invariably the thing prayed for was taken care of.  My husband was constantly showing us that we needed the Lord in every matter of life whether small or great.  

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Segment

I remember years ago when I was in graduate school and I had recently begun to truly live for the Lord, I was attending a church conference in the Bay Area in California. It was there that the Lord taught me first hand this truth that we are dependent on Him for everything; and we need to pray about everything.  Many of us, one afternoon during the conference, had paired up and gone into surrounding neighborhoods sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ from door to door.  My friend and I were on our way back to the conference grounds, but she noticed she needed to get gas first, so we stopped at a gas station on the way.  After fueling up, the car wouldn’t start. She tried a number of times, but it just wouldn’t start.  This was in the day before cell phones. We didn’t see a pay phone anywhere. It was five miles back to the conference grounds, it was growing dark, and we weren’t in the best area of town.  We sat there wondering what in the world to do when the Lord spoke to my heart, You’re at a conference learning on prayer and faith. Ask Me to help you.  I turned to my friend and said, Why don’t we ask the Lord to start the car? We bowed our heads, then simply prayed, Dear Father, we need Your help, please start the car so we can get back to the conference, in Jesus name, Amen.  When she turned the key, the car immediately started!  I have often thought back on that day, and it has encouraged me to remember to pray about everything just like my husband also encouraged me to do.

We have a loving Heavenly Father who wants His children to depend upon Him for everything and think to pray.  

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Sermon

Reflections:

Take a moment today to honestly evaluate your prayer life. When challenges arise, is prayer your first response—or your last resort?

Place a note where you’ll see it often—on your phone lock screen, bathroom mirror, dashboard, or Bible—with the question: “Did I pray about this?”

Comment with a heart if this has challenged or helped you! ❤️