Informal Prayers: or please don't let him bite me

One of the most memorable prayers I ever prayed was when I was walking home from the library one evening in summer.  I am not a speed walker but what I lack in speed I make up for in endurance.

I decided to go a different way than usual and walked through a residential section of town, as opposed to the little shops and offices I usually pass.

Suddenly a snarling bull dog lunged toward me, showing its prominent teeth.  I called out to the only One Who was listening, "Oh, please Lord, don't let him bite me!"

Suddenly the dog stopped in its tracks, snorted, then turned and went back to its own backyard.

Coincidence?  Is anything coincidence?  Read about Balaam and his donkey in Numbers.  It just may be that God sent one of His angels to scare the bull dog and send it home with its tail between the legs.

When I Just Don't Feel Like Praying

I am unemployed, so I have a lot of time, but have a lot of trouble concentrating on my prayers sometimes.  It helps to know that God judges our prayers less severely than we ourselves do.

Sometimes it helps to read the Psalms in the Bible.  David was subject to depression--a good friend of his, King Saul had become insanely jealous and was trying to kill him.  David took all his emotions to God, bad as well as good.

Another psalmist, Asa, wrote a famous passage in the Bible about how wicked people seem to get away with what they are doing.  As he wrote the Psalm, he confessed to being in the wrong.  It is only when we are not afraid to tell God (and ourselves) how we feel that sinful attitudes can be revealed to us and repented of.