I'm Thankful for Prayer

Each day until Thanksgiving, Everyday Truth is looking at a different reason to be thankful in a family devotional. Use these devotionals with your kids to help keep your family focused on giving thanks. If you missed the introductory post, check it out here for directions on creating a "Thanksgiving wall." When you're done with the devotional head on over to the Everyday Truth Facebook page and join in the discussion of why we're thankful for prayer.

Communication is important to any relationship. Can you imagine trying to be friends with someone if you never talked to them? How well would that work? It would be really hard to stay friends if you couldn't communicate, wouldn't it?

People used to talk to those who were far away via letter and telegraph. Then Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, which let people actually talk to those who were far away. Today, we have the phone, email, texting, video chatting and instant messaging. We can communicate with  anyone in the world instantly.

Instant communication lets us know what is going on in far-away places. We know when an earthquake hits in Turkey or when a government falls in Egypt. Few corners of the earth are left untouched by the ability to communicate.

Did you know that long before the telephone or text messaging, God came up with the first form of instant communication? It's called prayer. You can do it any time, anywhere, and God always hears you. You don't need any special equipment, and you don't need to follow any directions. All you have to do is talk, and God listens.

1 John 5:14 says "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." If we are talking to God, He hears us. He doesn't always answer us back right away, and He doesn't always give us exactly what we ask for, but He hears us. And He answers.

God never lets a prayer go unanswered. He has three answers -- yes, no and wait. It's not always easy to hear no, but when God says no to your requests, it's because He has something better in mind for you. And it's never easy to wait, but God's timing is perfect -- way better than ours could ever be. So, if God asks us to wait, be assured that it's for a good reason.

Be thankful today for prayer -- God's instant communication system. God doesn't have to listen to us. He does so because He loves us. Thank Him for that today. Write on your Thanksgiving wall one reason you are thankful for prayer. Then use prayer to spend some time talking to God. He loves to hear from you.