Have you ever met anyone who did not know how to pray?
Well I did, it was me.
When I was a youngster I memorized prayers others had written and because I was raised in a religious environment I was required to recite them on a daily basis. As a result I felt I was denied having a personal relationship with God. At this point I ask, are you familiar with anyone of another faith that is required to do this? There are some who are not even allowed to have a personal relationship with God because it is considered Blasphemous.
Well I do have a personal relationship with the Lord even though it may sometimes seem one sided but I know that it isn't. Sometimes the best conversationalist is a good listener. I tell people that the Lord is a very busy man and he always makes note of my prayers and will get back with me when it is appropriate but he always listens.
Even though I have a whole litany of requests I try to avoid asking things for myself. I feel just being here is enough and I give thanks for that. I talk about my concerns with current events and about friends of mine who may be terminally ill and their needs. I pray for a cure for those incurable diseases that we have no control over such as cancer. I pray for those children who are abused and neglected. I pray for the souls of the unborn children who have been denied the opportunity to even exist. I believe in the power of prayer and that it is the most powerful force in the universe.
I created this page just for prayers and I would like to solicit those who read this not for donations though I may not refuse them but for their prayers and their prayer request. I would like to post your prayer on this page along with your name and the individual you may be praying for.
You may e-mail them to me: davidraiford@msn.com and if you like you might say a prayer for me. Thank you, David
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David's Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, please hear this prayer for it is in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ that I ask.
First I want to thank you for this world this glorious wonderful planet among the stars in the universe with a place for everything and everything in its place including the four seasons. I believe that you and you alone are the creator of all existence and it was according to your plan, not some explosive accident. You made it so bountiful with all the elements we would ever need to sustain ourselves.
Second, all that we behold from the majestic mountains to the deep blue seas, the sand colored deserts to the rolling plains, the flowing rivers and the thick jungles and the dense rain forest all came from the palette you held in your hand. You painted the beautiful scented plants and flowers and breathed life into all living things.
And finally you gave life to us, human beings with a free will to have domain over all that you created. But you also gave us the stewardship and rules to live by and with that came responsibility. And as our father all that you asked in return was our love and obedience.
It was because of our original sin of disobedience that we were cast out of paradise. We succumbed to temptation and lost our eternal place being with you in heaven where we would not have had to suffer the consequences of death nor other maladies. Not only did we disobey we put someone else before you. This had to be the most grievous offense against you of which we are guilty even today. Thus your first commandment:
(1) "I am the Lord thy God and I shall not have false Gods before me."
I beg not for your divine intervention releasing us from the consequences we face because of our sins. You have already offered us redemption through the death and resurrection of your Son, our Lord on the cross. All we have to do is accept him as our savior.
Yet we have this fear and despair because we are weak and do not have the strength or will to believe on faith alone. It is because of this that our failure to have one faith, one God, and one religion has spawned centuries and even only decades of separate and sometimes radical views. We have constructed many churches, temples, synagogues, mosque's and other places of worship. All of these views of religion can be wrong but only one can be right.
But Lord in this country I have the freedom to choose and I choose to be a Christian where you are my faith, my hope and that through Jesus Christ our Savior I will have eternal life with you in heaven. I look for no other amenities.
My God there are those who would deny your existence for lack of evidential proof. I once viewed a masterpiece painted by Rembrandt. Even though Rembrandt lived some 400 years ago and I never personally saw or spoke with him I never doubted he was the artist and accepted the fact that he was the creator of this painting.
Many physicist, cosmologist and theoretical scientist and mathematicians, I might add a lot smarter than myself using scientific methods such as the Doppler theory along with other measuring theorems including measuring the radiation of the universe and elementary particle physics to suggest that the universe and the planetary structure was due to an explosive expansion of the universe and has evolved into what it is today. They therefore deny creation and support the theory of evolution. I believe in the evolution of things but according to your plan. These learned scientists deny any relevance as to a creator but believe the universe happened by chance with out any conclusive evidence.
Quoting a British journalist Steve Turner, "if chance was the father of all flesh then disaster is his rainbow." Sir Isaac Newton believed the universe was only a few thousand years old while Einstein believed it was ageless.
As for myself Lord and Heavenly Father I am old now and my life here has only been an immeasurable moment, a grain of sand in an infinite universe. I look back across all those yesterdays, some good and some not so good but plenty to be thankful for. I believe in you and that you are a real entity and that you have always been here just as you are here now and that you always will be here. I believe you are omnipotent, almighty and all knowing. I believe in the bible but that our knowledge of you is limited to the teachings of the bible. We are taught though from youth to love and obey you and to pray to you. But I believe to pray for material thing's is to pray for that which you have already provided. My devotion to you is because you are the creator and not here by chance.
There are many uncertainties ahead of me and like everyone else I am afraid of the unknown but I know that you are here with me and that I am not alone.
I take comfort in the things that you have provided for they are a Paradise to me. For this Lord I bow in humble gratitude.
I marvel at the mysteries of the universe as much as the complexities of nature that manifests itself in you for you are nature in itself. I stand in awe at the complexities of a single rose. Science explains its structure, its nourishment and its longevity in finite detail but to suggest it just evolved from itself is ludicrous. This is my proof, my sign that you dear God are here among us. And if that is not enough if I lived to be a thousand which is not very likely to travel the world I still would not be able to see all the marvels that prove to me that you are present.
I look at the dew on the grass and realize you have provided nature with the very essence of life. The birds that fly in the sky know when to nest and when to migrate. It has been said there is nothing more beautiful than a tree that lifts it leafy arms to glorify the lord. They know when to bear their fruit and they know when to shed their leaves.
I look at the beautiful multi-colored flowers that bloom again and again, year after year. Who but you could have thought of such a thing. You have provided us with the four seasons that change year after year for thousands and tens of thousands of years. This is not consistent with the theory of a universal expansion of the universe because of an accidental explosion. An explosion is fragmented and inconsistent in of itself and does not cause objects in space to assume a gravitational balance in an orderly orbit among themselves.
And finally the sun, the stars, the planets and the trillions of galaxies did not just appear out of a void, you had to be here first and always. Because you are you, the creator and the father I get down on bended knee and bow my head in thanks for the wonderful life you have allowed me to live in this beautiful and glorious world. Praise God, amen.
David Raiford
