Prayer is an intimate conversation with our God.

Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

Joie started the children’s program with prayer, then sang with the kids. Six-year-old Emmanuel squirmed in his seat when she prayed again after introducing Aaron, the teacher. Then Aaron began and ended his talk with prayer. Emmanuel complained: “That’s four prayers! I can’t sit still that long!”

If you think Emmanuel’s challenge is difficult, look at 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray continually” or always be in a spirit of prayer. Even some of us adults can find prayer to be boring. Maybe that’s because we don’t know what to say or don’t understand that prayer is a conversation with our Father.

Back in the seventeenth century, Fran?ois Fénelon wrote some words about prayer that have helped me: “Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them.” He continued, “Talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them: show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them . . . . If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say.”

May we grow in our intimacy with God so that we will want to spend more time with Him.

For further study, read about Jesus’s example of prayer in John 17 and Luke 5:16.

祷告是与上帝亲密对话。

耶稣却退到旷野去祷告。-路加福音5章16节

周姐姐以祷告开始儿童主日学的活动，接着带领孩子们唱诗歌。她介绍了当天的讲员张老师后，又带大家一起祷告，此时六岁的乐乐已经如坐针毡。然后，张老师又以祷告作为讲故事的开始和结束。乐乐不禁埋怨：“总共祷告四次耶！哪能叫我乖乖地坐那么久！”

如果你认为乐乐面临的情况很难熬，那么要做到帖撒罗尼迦前书5章17节所说的“不住地祷告”，时刻保持祷告的心就更难了。其实不只是孩子，即使是成年人都可能觉得祷告很无趣。这也许是因为我们不知道要说什么，或不明白祷告就是和天父说话。

十七世纪法国神学家芬乃伦写下一段关于祷告的论述，让我得着帮助。他说：“告诉上帝你心中所想的一切，就像是对亲近的朋友倾诉心声、快乐和痛苦。告诉上帝你的困难，让祂安慰你。告诉上帝你的欢喜快乐，让祂使你心存感恩。告诉上帝你的渴望，让祂使你动机纯正。”他还说：“告诉上帝你碰到的试探，让祂保守你。让上帝看见你心中的伤痛，让祂来医治……如果你真的坦承所有的软弱、需要和困难，不可能无话可说。”

愿我们与上帝越来越亲密，使我们想花更多时间与祂相处。

请进一步阅读约翰福音17章和路加福音5章16节，
学习耶稣祷告的榜样。

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28New International Version (NIV)

Final Instructions

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances;for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

整理：于姊妹