The story is told of a certain pastor who was disturbed to see a shabbily dressed old man go into his church at noon every day and come out again after a few minutes. What could he be doing? He informed the caretaker and asked him to question the old man. After all, the place contained valuable belongings and furnishings.
“I go to pray,” the old man said in reply to care taker’s questioning.
“Come, come now,” said the other, “you are never long enough in the church to pray.”
“Well, you see,” the old man went on, “I don’t know how to pray a long prayer, but every day at twelve o’clock I just come and say, ‘Jesus, it’s Jim.’ I wait a minute and then come away. Even though it’s just a little prayer, I think he hears me.”
When Jim was injured sometime later and taken to the hospital, he had a wonderful influence on the ward. Grumbling patients became cheerful, and often the ward would ring with laughter. “Well, Jim,” said a nurse to him one day, “the men say you are responsible for this change in the ward. They say you are always happy.”
“Aye, that I am. I can’t help being happy. You see, it’s my visitor. Every day he makes me happy.”
“Your visitor?” The nurse was puzzled. She had noticed that Jim’s chair was always empty during visiting hours, for he was a lonely man, with no relatives. “Your visitor? But when does he come?”
“Every day,” Jim replied, with a light in his eye. "Yes, every day at 12 O’clock he comes and stands at the foot of my bed. I see him and he smiles and says, ‘Jim, it’s Jesus.’"
Despite the evolving and unstable seasons that life brings, we are called to trust God. Through times of joy and tribulation, one may be going through a season of rejection, loss, grief, or uncertainty. Do not be discouraged; there is good news for you: God’s faithfulness will never waver. He will be there when you need Him the most.
Those who leave everything in God’s hand will eventually see God’s hand in everything. You must seek him in the morning if you want him through the day! There are more ways to pray than you probably ever imagined. They can be long or short, silent or spoken or sung. Some prayers don’t need words…!
Prayer is so simple; it is like quietly opening a door and slipping into the very presence of God. There in the stillness to listen for his voice. Perhaps to petition or only to listen. It does not matter. Just to be there in his presence is in itself a prayer. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall, grant you the desires of your heart” Ps 37:4.