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Psalm 65:2b-3 NLT

'All of us must come to you. Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all.'

God is a popular destination for most people. Prayer is given a try when all else appears to be failing. I have only once been refused when making an offer to pray for someone. These are not just Christians, but as I meet people and hear their stories of challenge, I will state that I am a Christian and believe in the power of prayer and request permission to pray for them. I have usually been met with a grateful, “yes, please”. It’s a practice that Jayne taught me for she has practised this for years.

God extends his invitation of approach to all humanity. This is a God who loves and intervenes in response to the cry of our hearts. As a child, not in a Christian family and no knowledge of God, each evening as I was tucked into bed I would pray the Lord’s Prayer. This

was followed by prayers for the safety of my family and became habitual, and something of a talisman. I had no sense of the One to whom I directed such prayers, yet had an inner impulse to pray.

I also found within myself a notion of guilt when I lied, something which I developed into an art form, and did things I knew I wasn’t supposed to. God was engaging with me in my ignorance, filling the silence of my own thoughtfulness and reflection with a prompting that eventually blossomed into full friendship with the Trinity.

I learned once I’d found God to bring my troubled conscience to him alongside my many requests. I was forever in need of God to cleanse me from the residue and effects of sin in my life. This forgiveness and cleansing I took for granted. Rather more readily than I accepted my prayers had been heard. I demanded no evidence for my forgiveness, only for my intercessions.

QUESTION: Is prayer like an emergency parachute or a deeper engagement with your heavenly Father?

PRAYER: Lord God, thank you for mercy on me, a sinner, through Jesus Christ.