Prayer Changed Everything!
Sunday Morning (June 3, 2024) in the sermon I shared about how important it is to open your heart to God, to pour out your heart to God being completely honest with him. If you read the Psalms of David, you see David repeatedly doing this in the Psalms.
I shared a personal testimony of the first time that I had poured out my heart to God. It happened soon after I had graduated from High School in 1968. The Vietnam War was raging, and I fully expected to be drafted. I had a large map of Vietnam on the back of the door in my room and was trying to keep up with what was going on with the war. I know it was on my heart as to what was ahead for me. I had been walking around outside until I was under some large elm trees that were just north of the chicken house on our farm. Some hours of time I cried out to God about what was going to happen in my life wanting His help with what was ahead.
The summer before my senior year in High School I took a driving test for bus driving at Weatherford, Oklahoma along with several other boys. As I was taking my test, I could see in the seat behind me that the officer seemed to be making a lot of marks on the test report. I came to a point where I had to make a left hand turn downtown and there was a lot of traffic that I was having to wait to go by. I briefly commented to the officer that when driving a bus with kids that I wasn’t going to hurry making a turn like that. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the officer tear up the test report that he had been working on and start over. I believe that is what God did after my prayer that day! The direction of my life was changed!
Nothing seemed to happen immediately as a result of the prayer until late June or early July. I had never really considered the possibility of going to college. I didn’t think that my grades were high enough and I didn’t think that I was smart enough to succeed with it. But it was during this time that it entered my mind that maybe I ought to talk with someone about it and I called and talked with our High School principal. He checked and said that I had a B average, and it wouldn’t be a problem for me to be accepted at Southwestern State in Weatherford, Oklahoma. He gave me the information I needed to apply, and I began attending college in the Fall of 1968.
To be honest I had not applied myself to my studies in Junior High and High School and my focus was primarily on music and playing the guitar. The first several weeks of college were difficult as I had to make up for what I had not learned. But I believe that God helped me as I learned how to study and opened my mind to what I needed to understand.
As a result of that prayer God led me to my wife and gave me a family. As a result of that prayer everything changed! That prayer I believe was a result of many others praying for me. In the devotional “Throne of Grace 10.08.20” I shared this: “Looking back at my life before I received Jesus as my Savior, I am convinced that many prayers must have been prayed on my behalf. Because without those prayers I doubt that I would have lived beyond my teenage years. I am indeed thankful for those who prayed for me then and for those who pray for me now.”
The devotional “Throne of Grace” was written during the uncertain times of 2020, and we seem to be in another uncertain time at present. Here is how I ended that devotional: “During this year when everything seems to have come apart at the seams, I hope that you will avail yourself of this great and awesome privilege of prayer more so than ever before. Pray for yourself, for your family, for your friends. Maybe you know some teenage boys and girls that need your prayers to make it through that difficult time in their lives. There are so many hurting people across this world that need our prayers. Have you come before the “throne of grace” today?”