I Saw Him on His Knees

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Matthew 6:6-7.

Every morning and night, my father would find a quiet spot in our house to pray. I remember waking each morning to go and see where he was, and I would always find him kneeling in front of the couch, speaking to the Lord in the dark. Often times he would have tears streaming down his face, and I knew not to disturb him, as he was deep in conversation with the Lord. I could sense that whatever he was asking the Lord for was very important, and I trusted that his prayers always included me. Before family vacations, we would sit in our car and pray before we left the driveway, asking for God’s protection over us as we travelled. My father has always been our go-to person when we needed prayer, and because of him, I realized just how important prayer was.

The tradition of praying before travelling continued with me once I had my own family. We prayed in our car before we travelled, and when extended family members came to visit, they too stood with us in the front entrance of our home, and we all prayed together, asking God to cover them as they travelled. I’ve also taught my children the importance of prayer and that they can go to God about anything. It doesn’t have to be a specific time of day; it could be anytime. God is always happy to hear from us, and He wants to hear from us often.

However, at some point in my life, prayer became almost intimidating to me, and I found that there was so much emphasis put on how I had to pray. Everywhere I turned, there were devotions, podcasts, books, etc., all telling me how I had to pray. This did not sit well with me, as I always thought I could just go to God and talk to Him about anything. I never felt the pressure to pray a certain way at any point in my life growing up until that point. My insecurities got to me, and then I started to feel that the big lofty prayers I was hearing around me were just too much and that maybe I was just doing it all wrong.

One evening my daughter and I were doing devotions together before bed. Usually, I would pray at the end, but I asked her if she would pray this night. She said, no, mommy, I can’t pray as you do; I don’t like praying in front of people. I realized then that she had the same insecurity as me and believed that prayer had to be a big thing and because some people’s prayers sounded better to us than our own, we could not confidently share aloud the prayers of our heart. It was then that the Lord brought to my memory Matthew 6:6-7, and I shared it with her and told her that we do not need to sound a certain way. That whenever we come to God and pray from our hearts, believing He hears us and believing that we have received it, it will be ours. God loves to hear from us, and whatever we say, even if it’s a few words, it is all music to His ears. He delights in hearing from us.

I then was reminded of my own earthly father and the many times I had seen him weeping before the Lord or praying aloud in church, knowing that so many of his own prayers had been answered. I can guarantee the times he lifted my name up in prayer, that my Father in heaven heard him, and He answered his prayers.