by Kati Woods

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” Philippians 4:6. 

If I hear mother call my name one more time I’m going to scream!

Have you ever felt like that? I’m sure as a child or teenager most of us have said that one more than one occasion, but suddenly I’m in that place again and I’m thirty-two years old.

Am I grateful that my parents are allowing me and my family to live in their home while the beloved Marine Corps processes the THIRD extension of my husbands orders? YES! I am! And I was SO blessed that my parents lived forty-five minutes away from where my husband was stationed as a recruiter.

But suddenly, after three months of waiting, I’m that child again. Hiding out in the bedroom reading or down at the computer so that I don’t hear “Kati, I would like you to…” one more time.

But that’s not all! What about… If I hear “mom” just one more time I’m going to change my name and not tell the kids what it is!

Is that more applicable to you? Or is it your boss or your husband? Who is forever calling your name to ask you to get something or tell you to do something or want you to fix something, and not when you want to, NOW! It’s always NOW!

Then I starting thinking. I am SO GLAD that God doesn’t get tired of me. That He doesn’t think “If I hear Dear Lord or Heavenly Father one more time…”.

We can go to Him every minute of everyday, crying, wanting, whining, and snapping. No matter what mood we are in, we can go to Him. And He’s not only there, waiting to hear us, He also never gets tired of us and loves us unconditionally regardless of how often we go to him. In fact, He WANTS to come to him with our wants and desires. In Thessalonians it says to “pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (chapter five, verses 17 &18).

Take a minute and read what the Bible says about prayer.
Jeremiah 29:12 “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.”
Psalms 66:19 “But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.”
James 5:13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”

And does He ever get tired of our prayers? No.
Psalms 102:17 “He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.”
Jesus himself says in Matthew 21:22 “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Prayer is a conversation with God. God, the all powerful, when we want something and God, our Dad, when we are hurt. He tells us that we are His children and that He is our Father.

Among the many names that God has, (Maker, Creator, Almighty etc) my favorite is Abba. It’s the Aramaic name that Jesus used when praying to His Father, it means “Daddy”. It’s the name WE get to use for those times when we just want to crawl up on His lap and talk to Him. It’s a personal name for God.

Before Christ died and opened the gates of heaven to all believers and took away our sins to grant us a personal relationship with God, we couldn’t use that name. Servants and the unclean were NEVER permitted to use such a personal name for their Master. But now, through Jesus, we are God’s own adopted children and we get to call God “Father.” We get to call him “Daddy.”

Prayer of the Day: Heavenly Father, I come to you today so thankful that I can. I thank and praise you for all your blessings. I am so happy that YOU never get tired of hearing from me. I ask you for patience when others need me and when they want my help. I ask that you help me to remember that you have commanded me to love one another: just as You have loved me.
I also lift up to you …(add your own requests in)….
Thank you for…(good health, family, friends, a home, food, clothes, a job, etc).
Thank you for being my Father, my Daddy. Thank you for always being there to hear me and forgive me all the sins I have done intentionally and unintentionally. I ask this all in the name of your Son Who taught us to pray…(Luke 11:1-4 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
And he said to them, “When you pray, say: ) “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” Amen.

Here are some other verses for you to look up to see what the Bible says about prayer. (Including some of the ones mentioned earlier.)
2 Chronicles 7:14-15, Psalm 66:18-20, Psalm 91:14-16, Psalm 145:17-19, Proverbs 28:9,
Matthew 6:5-8, Mark 11:24, Luke 11:9-13, John 15:7, John 16:23-24, Romans 8:26-27,
Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 4:4-9, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 1 Timothy 2:1, 8;
Hebrews 4:14-16, James 1:5-8, James 4:1-3, James 5:13-16, 1 Peter 3:10-12,
and 1 John 3:21-23.

About the Author:
Kati is a Marine wife, and mother of two active boys. She has been happily married for almost nine years. She loves reading, writing and teaching.  She loves to travel and move!  She has lived in seven states (two of them twice!) and is about to move to Okinawa Japan.