Tonight as I was putting my children to bed I was praying the same prayer we pray almost every night together, The Lord’s Prayer directly followed by The Prayer of Jabez. These 2 biblical prayers never get old for me, they are so powerful. I love them so much, and I’m trying to help my children hide these scriptures in their hearts.
The Lord’s Prayer:
As I finished praying , a memory flashed through my mind like a streak of light in the dark. So I figured God would like me to tell them the story . And since I was about to write as I was sitting down there with them (I have a couple playful toddlers that don’t always fall asleep right away.) I felt that maybe I was supposed to share this story with you also.
This is how it went:
First we said The Lord’s Prayer:
Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. In Jesus’s name, amen. (Matt. 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4)
The Prayer of Jabez:
Oh Lord, that you would bless me indeed. That You would enlarge my territory and my coasts, and that your hand would be with me, and upon me, and that you would keep me from evil that I may not be grieved by it, and that I may not cause pain. In Jesus’s name, Amen. (1 Chronicles 4:10)
As I was sitting in the dark of my children’s room, praying the last line of that prayer I saw a memory glowing in my mind. I picked it up and recalled the story to my children. this is what I told them:
The Lord has brought back some thing to my remembrance, as we were praying . I was hoping that you would not feel that you are always just repeating this prayer after me, and not really praying . But, I am wanting it to get down deep in your heart for when you need it.
You can just repeat after me if you want. But you can also just choose to truly mean it as you say it. I do. I love these scripture prayers. My prayer for you is that God would become “Real” to you like He did one day when I was about 19 or 20. I met Him in a dream one night and He touched me. When He touched me I saw a blinding light and felt Him. When I woke up I was crying and knew that God was more real than I was.
I actually was afraid of Him and couldn’t stay asleep in the dream because I had felt like I had put my finger in an electrical socket. When I woke up from that dream tears streamed down my face and I rolled out of bed onto the cold tile floor, and apologized to Him as best I knew how. I told Him I was sorry that I hadn’t known that He was so real. He was more real than me.
When God became real to me so did the other spiritual activity that was going on around me. I became aware of what looked to me like a host of black bat like shadows swarming in a circle around the roof outside of my family’s house. But God showed me how to deal with that as I walked with Him.
That encounter with God changed everything for me. And my prayer is that my children and anyone else reading this right now will also have their own encounters with God that are even greater than mine- where you can say as I said with Job in Job 42:5-6. “My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
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