One of my favorite memories of Sunday night church services was the men’s quartet who would sing in wonderful four-part harmony. The songs were so upbeat. One of my favorite songs was “Just A Little Talk With Jesus”.
“I once was lost in sin but Jesus took me in
And then a little light from Heaven filled my soul
He bathed my heart in love and wrote my name above
And just a little talk with Jesus made me whole
Now let us have a little talk with Jesus
Let us tell Him all about our troubles
He will hear our faintest cry and He will answer by and by
Now when you feel a little prayer wheel turning
You’ll know a little fire is burning
You will find a little talk with Jesus makes it right”
Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right – all right!
You know it does.
Believe it or not, we’re still with Jesus and his teaching on the mountain. You know the teaching that started with the be-attitudes. The one that told us to love as God, Himself, loves. The teaching that instructed us not to be show-offs, now gives us instruction on prayer.
“When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. 8 Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask.
9 You should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
help us to honor
your name.
10 Come and set up
your kingdom,
so that everyone on earth
will obey you,
as you are obeyed
in heaven.
11 Give us our food for today.
12 Forgive us for doing wrong,
as we forgive others.
13 Keep us from being tempted
and protect us from evil. The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.
14 If you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, your Father in heaven will forgive you. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:7-15 CEV
I love that Jesus starts with our Father. He was a man of prayer. Often, He would stay up late or rise early to go to a quiet place just to talk to His Father. He knew His Father had the answers and the strength that He needed to live life as a human.
This prayer is short, sweet and to the point. The one praying it doesn’t need to be a seminary graduate, an ordained minister or priest. Prayer is a child talking to their parent, telling Him all their troubles and having confidence that “Dad” has heard and is there to help.
“ We have a great high priest, who has gone into heaven, and he is Jesus the Son of God. This is why we must hold on to what we have said about him. 15 Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! 16 So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved grace, and we will find help.” Hebrews 4:14-16 CEV
Prayer doesn’t need a lot of thee’s and thou’s; it’s us talking to our Father. Just conversation.
Just a little talk, leaving our burdens and cares with Him, makes things right, all right!