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

My dad had an expression.

It was an expression I've never heard anyone else say. Every once in a while, he would smile and say, "I'm so busy, I feel like a one-eyed dog in a butcher shop. I don't know which way to look next."

That expression certainly applied to one lady I knew. Some might consider her elderly, but she kept young by keeping busy with her cooking, cleaning, all kinds of this and that. Surprisingly, no matter how busy she was, she made it a rule to pray first thing in the morning.

Morning prayers, she told me, had been a habit since she was a little girl.

One day, when I visited her, I found her reading the newspaper. Jokingly, I asked if she had already finished her prayers. Quite seriously, she replied, "Oh, no, I'm just looking in the paper to see what I should pray about."

No longer the one-eyed dog in the butcher shop, this wonderful lady of the Lord let the newspaper tell her what she was supposed to talk to Him about.

For me, writing these daily devotions has had that kind of effect. They have often given me something to pray about. I hope they do the same for you.

In truth, if we have our priorities in order, if Jesus is more than a Sunday morning Savior, and if the Holy Spirit is our constant companion, we never run out of things for which to pray. Like Paul said, 'about everything with our prayers and supplications and thanksgivings we let the Lord know what is on our hearts.'

And... this is the wonderful part. We know our Father in heaven, the Lord Who sent His Son to take our place and save us, is going to listen.

That's His promise, and I encourage everyone to take Him up on that pledge. Let us come to Him in prayer, not because we have to, but because there's simply so much to pray for.


From a devotion originally written for "By the Way"



THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, sometimes I don't know which way to look next. I ask for Your wisdom and guidance, so that I, redeemed by the Savior's blood, may come with boldness to a Father Who listens and cares. In the Name of my Savior, I pray.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Micah 4-5    Acts 21:18-40

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