{"id":1204,"date":"2011-07-25T21:18:15","date_gmt":"2011-07-26T01:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1204"},"modified":"2011-08-21T20:10:03","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T00:10:03","slug":"strength-for-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/strength-for-prayer.html","title":{"rendered":"Strength for Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hudson Taylor, a pioneer missionary to China,\u00a0once said, “Do not work so hard for Christ that you have no strength to pray, for prayer requires strength.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was reminded several times this week of the vital work of prayer.\u00a0 At an all-night prayer meeting, the church prayed for Peter.\u00a0 God miraculously released him from prison and the pending threat of death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saturday and Sunday of this week, as I shared this epic story with The Special Gathering, a ministry within the mentally challenged community, I was reminded of Harriett Cottingham.\u00a0 Harriett was the Sunday school and Training Union teacher for 10 teenage girls in the 1950’s.\u00a0 I was one of those young women.\u00a0 For five years,\u00a0we sat under her tutelage.\u00a0 She was the only adult I knew who wanted\u00a0teenagers to call her by her first name.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0There are a midrad of things she taught me.\u00a0 But the most important one was the important nature of constant prayer in our lives.<\/p>\n

One week during our Bible class, she challenged us to pray each day ten times a day.\u00a0 It seemed impossible to me.\u00a0 Yet, as she broke it down for us, I knew I could do it.\u00a0 At the end of the class, she asked for a commitment to prayer. I raised my hand.\u00a0 From that pivotal moment, I’ve been\u00a0hooked on the power and importance of prayer.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I devised a plan of action to keep me consistant.\u00a0 I set times each day that I would pray.\u00a0 Harriett had explained that our prayer didn’t need to be long or complicated.\u00a0 We didn’t have to kneel or close our eyes.\u00a0\u00a0Our prayers\u00a0should be\u00a0a simple request for God to help us, forgive us or bless us.<\/p>\n

I remember that each morning leaving for school,\u00a0as I jumped off the front porch because I never walked down the four steps, I would pray.\u00a0\u00a0Lord, help me catch the bus and bless my day.<\/em>\u00a0 As I stepped off the bus onto the school ground, I prayed.\u00a0 Lord, help me to listen and to do good work in class.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

In short, prayer became a part of my life through that easy practice of talking with the Lord ten times a day.\u00a0 Throughout eternity, I’ll be grateful for Harriett and her faithfulness to ten silly young girls.\u00a0 However, I am most grateful for teaching me the value, worth and work of prayer.<\/p>\n

I agree with Hudson Taylor that prayer takes strength; but I’m\u00a0equally happy that Harriett helped me to discover at a young age the joy of frequent communication with the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hudson Taylor, a pioneer missionary to China,\u00a0once said, “Do not work so hard for Christ that you have no strength to pray, for prayer requires strength.”\u00a0 I was reminded several times this week of the vital work of prayer.\u00a0 At an all-night prayer meeting, the church prayed for Peter.\u00a0 God miraculously released him from prison…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,40,186,49,16,85,12,4],"tags":[690,21,688,699,715,701,694,689,57,6],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-prayer-2","category-religion","category-simple-truths","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-prayer","tag-simple-scriptural-truths"],"yoast_head":"\nStrength for Prayer - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/strength-for-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strength for Prayer - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hudson Taylor, a pioneer missionary to China,\u00a0once said, “Do not work so hard for Christ that you have no strength to pray, for prayer requires strength.”\u00a0 I was reminded several times this week of the vital work of prayer.\u00a0 At an all-night prayer meeting, the church prayed for Peter.\u00a0 God miraculously released him from prison…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/strength-for-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-26T01:18:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-08-22T00:10:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/07\/taylor11.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Strength for Prayer - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/strength-for-prayer.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Strength for Prayer - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"Hudson Taylor, a pioneer missionary to China,\u00a0once said, “Do not work so hard for Christ that you have no strength to pray, for prayer requires strength.”\u00a0 I was reminded several times this week of the vital work of prayer.\u00a0 At an all-night prayer meeting, the church prayed for Peter.\u00a0 God miraculously released him from prison…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/strength-for-prayer.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-07-26T01:18:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-08-22T00:10:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/07\/taylor11.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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