What it Means to Store Up Prayers
I was talking with one of the older guys in our church last night. He’s married with four kids and we were just talking about life. He encouraged me to store up prayer now. This is a phrase I’ve heard over and over again but sometimes it seems so ambiguous. So I asked him, what does it mean to store up prayers? What are you praying for? Now that you are where you are, what prayers do you wish you stored up more of?
He told me from his experience, two kinds of things to pray for. The first is character. Pray now that you’ll develop the right character. Pray that you’ll becoming loving so you can love your wife when it’s tough. Pray that you’ll become patient so you can be patient with your children. Pray for wisdom now so you’ll be wise in how to teach your children. These character traits will serve you well when in other stages of life. Develop them now so that you can handle situations in the future. Learn to love your difficult small group members because children are just like that. They don’t listen, they don’t go where you want them to or do what you want them to. They can be little monsters. Learn now how to communicate well, it will serve you well in your marriage.
The second was to pray for events. Pray now that you’ll be able to trust in God when you get laid off. Pray now that you’ll be faithful to your wife when you’re tempted otherwise. Pray now for faith and hope when your children are extremely sick. Pray now that you’ll see God and his glory when a family member dies. Pray now for your children’s growth, college, occupation, spouse, marriage. Pray now for the patience and endurance when your kids are painting their cribs with their poo. Pray now for your children. He prays about 10 minutes a night for his children and he wishes he could pray so much more for them.
I gained so much perspective talking with him. It’s one thing to just hear it from people but another to see it in his eyes and to hear it in his voice. The concern and the love that he has for his family and the struggles that he has with his children. The earnest plea and encouragement to pray now while you have the time. Learn to fight your selfishness now so that you’ll be better prepared when the time comes. I don’t have a family, I’m not married, and I’m not even courting anyone right now but, to steal a phrase, don’t waste your singleness. Lord willing, one day I’ll have all that so I need to pray now that I’ll be ready that on that day.