Blankets of Prayer

I returned this past weekend from attending the Moms in Prayer International State Coordinator Getaway, held in sunny southern California. My flight home left San Diego Friday afternoon to arrive in Portland just prior to dark—in time to see a city blanketed with snow. After a flight cancellation and some rerouting, I finally flew into Pasco Saturday morning. Then, it was an hour drive to the welcome sight of the Walla Walla Valley, also blanketed in snow. Overlooking the wheat fields, our Blue Mountains are just barely visible in the background of the photo below.

 

It made me think—just like snow blankets whatever it touches, so does prayer.

wpclipart.com

 

As this Norman Rockwell painting so tenderly demonstrates, each night across the world parents tuck in the blankets around their children with stories, hugs, kisses, and, for many, prayers. Sometimes God hears “Now I lay me down to sleep…” or “God bless Mommy, Daddy...” or the voice of a parent kneeling beside a sleepy child. Those prayers are like blankets that cover that child all night long and into the next day.

We can’t always be with our children nor guarantee them a perfect environment, even in our own presence, but we can trust our children to the Lord God, the One who urges us to pray on their behalf. 

 

And, considering Paul's words of Ephesians 6, prayer is the best cover we can put over our children. Oswald Sanders said, “The prayer of the feeblest saint on earth who lives in the Spirit and keeps right with God is a terror to Satan.  The very powers of darkness are paralyzed by prayer.” 

 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon echoed the words of James 4:2 (NKJV), “…you do not have because you do not ask,” when he said, “Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom.” Jesus said, “ask and it will be given to you…” (Luke 11:9 NKJV) And He taught that we “always ought to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1 NKJV)

 

That is what Augustine's mom believed. Her son lived a wild life as a teen, but he had a praying mom.  Years later, Augustine praised God for his mother saying, “And now didst thou stretch forth thy hand from above and didst draw my soul up out of that profound darkness because my mother, thou faithful one, wept to thee on my behalf more than mothers are accustomed to weep for the bodily deaths of their children.” Her prayers blanketed him night and day.

 

When we blanket our children with prayer, just like Augustine's mom, we will see how the Lord truly is able to do exceedingly above all we ask or imagine. 

 

Where there is prayer, there is Someone who is listening,

Who knows the situation and He acts because He cares.

He’ll give His full attention and answer in His wisdom

anytime or anywhere there is prayer.

Bruce Carroll and John G. Elliott