Matthew 22, 7-11

Well, there I was, camped out in Huntsville State Park, with my stack of books, seeking truth, and talking to a deer who had appeared and who was, with authority, giving me lessons in religious matters.

“How can I come to completely believe in God?” I asked of the deer.

“Pray,” the deer replied.

“Pray?” I queried.

“Pray Always. Talk to God about everything. Pray when you’re happy. Pray when you are sad. Pray when you are grateful to Him for His blessings. Pray when you are mad at Him. Pray when you are exhilarated. Pray when you are depressed. Pray when you are surrounded by love. Pray when you are lonely.”

“Even when my prayers are not answered?”

“Prayers are always answered. Sometimes the answer takes a while to come – not because God does not know the answer but because the time is not right for you to receive it.”

I contested the deer’s answer. “No they’re not. I’ve prayed for many things and they haven’t happened.”

The deer challenged me. “How big do his responses have to be? Does He have to part the Red Sea for you? He usually whispers rather than shouts. How quickly do they have to come? Do you see them? Is your mind open? Good things are always happening to you and you don’t even notice. Prayers are answered and you think that whatever happened just happened. You forget about God’s role in everything that happens. Miracles are usually subtle and easily escape recognition. Miracles come out of evil, also. God has a way of turning evil things into good things.”

Like a student eager to debate the teacher, I retorted, “but I have asked for very specific, tangible things to happen and they haven’t happened. If they had, I would certainly have noticed.”

“When you’re asking God to do something for you, sometimes the answer to your request is simply ‘no.’ There is always a good reason for that answer. If your mind is open to an explanation of that reason, it will come to you.”

“No? Isn’t God supposed to give us what we ask Him for? Ask and you shall receive?”

The deer became somewhat distressed. “Not everything that you ask for is good for you. God gives you what you need – not necessarily what you want.”

The deer then began to look disturbed and even sad. “What makes me the most disappointed is a person saying ‘well, all we can do now is pray’. For goodness sakes! It is the most that you can do and should be the first thing that you do when you face a really tough situation.”

I wanted some guidance so that I would do this “prayer-thing” right. “I don’t really know how to pray. I don’t know what to say.”

The deer had a ready answer. “Neither did His disciples. So, they asked Him to teach them to pray. You’ll find it in one of those books that you brought with you. Try Mathew 6 or Luke 11. Besides, your Father knows what you need before you even ask Him. But, there is an even better prayer.”

The deer was arousing my curiosity. “What kind of prayer can be better than the one that Jesus gave his disciples?” I asked.

“One that you make up yourself. One that flows from your heart”, the deer taught. “One that empties out your worries, your anxieties, your desires, your sins, your love, your gratitude, your wants – everything - and turns it all over to Him. Ritual or memorized prayers are great and God appreciates them, but nothing beats a no-holds-barred talk with your Creator. That’s what prayer is – talking with God. When you hold your hands in some prayer position, you are wielding the greatest power in the universe that a human being can wield – the power of prayer - because you are talking with the Creator of it all.”

NOTE: The dialogue in this article was constructed from the impressions I received during my encounter with the deer and do not represent actual conversation. The gift of Reverence that I gained that night was, however, very real.

Links to all of Bob’s columns, including Parts I-III of this series, can be found at www.newsnet713.com/BobConnor.htm