My First Prayer – A True Story

I was very privileged to have been brought up in a very strong evangelical Christian family, I had a great childhood and we done many good things together, they were very happy days. Sundays were very strict, we would always go to church in the morning which was followed by a nice Sunday dinner often with other Christian friends, there was definitely no television or gardening on a Sunday and we talked about the things of God.

I went into the world

As a teenager growing up in a Christian family, I felt like I was missing out on the things of this world, it seemed like my friends were having a better time enjoying themselves, there didn’t seem to be lots of rules and regulations and they just seemed generally more free to do whatever they wanted, any day of the week. At the age of fourteen, I refuse to go to church any more, much to my parents disappointment, I just found church so boring, I would almost look at the clock every minute and I would try and turn the pages of my Bible individually to try and make the time go quicker, it didn’t seem to work.

Take a look at my video regarding my first prayer!

Growing up in my twenties and running my own small business I started to meet all sorts of people, many of them country people who enjoyed the countryside and hunting and shooting. I started to socialise in public houses with these people and very quickly it became a daily habit, socialising and drinking, I was moving far away from God’s plan for my life.

I enjoyed my life, working hard, playing hard, lots of hunting, I also worked on a self-employed basis for one of the local hunts, it was a great time. We used to go to some amazingly beautiful places, I used to think to myself someone must have created this beauty, but I would immediately try and shut the thoughts out of my mind. If I could find a Christian to have an argument with, I would, unfortunately, I found that most of them really couldn’t stand up for their faith when they were brought to the test from an atheist like me. However, one thing that I didn’t know was that people were praying for me and when people pray for you, there is nothing you can do to stop God moving in your life.

My thoughts changed

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I really appreciated and admired the beauty all around me, it was amazing, someone had to have created this beauty. Moving into my late twenties I thought there has to be more to life than just working and playing hard, surely we don’t just work and work and then die? I felt a need to go back to church, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do this, I think pride was probably getting in the way.

It took me two years or more before I plucked up the courage to walk into a church, I didn’t want a boring church, I wanted a happening church, I had seen far too many dead churches my life. It felt strange being in the church, I was very worried that my friends might see me in church, even though the church was twenty miles away from where I was living, I knew I had to go to church and not be distracted. It was very strange being amongst all these people singing and praising God, but something felt so good and I knew that I was doing the right thing, even though I didn’t believe!

I kept going to this Pentecostal church every week, from around mid June to September, I didn’t miss a single week and I actually look forward to going. One thing that really disappointed me was the fact that people were really unfriendly my feelings were that if that Christianity was so good, surely they should be speaking to me telling me about the good news, very few people spoke to me. Incidentally, the good thing about people being so unfriendly in churches has helped me to go out and try and reach the lost and to be friendly to newcomers in the church and those around me!

I started the Alpha course

It was in the month of September that the church was running an Alpha course. (An Alpha course is a course that gives you an introduction to Christianity and it also enables you to ask as many questions as you want to, this was very helpful to me and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is searching who they are)

The Alpha course was great for me, we started off by having a meal together on tables of approximately 8 people, it was a great way of meeting and getting to know new people. We would then hear a message for about 30 minutes and then we had about 45 minutes of practical time answering questions etc. This was really beneficial for me, as I literally had 1001 questions to ask about the Christian faith.

I think there are about 12 different chapters or sessions to the Alpha course and we were approximately halfway through the course and the subject was about prayer, I found it difficult to understand how you could pay to someone that you can’t see!

My first prayer was answered!

After each course we were given homework, in other words, small exercises to help us learn more about the Christian faith. This particular session was all about prayer and it so happened that I was looking for a better mortgage deal, I have been self-employed all my life, but unfortunately, because of this, the banks don’t always want to give you the best mortgage deal! So I thought I would pray and ask God to give me a better mortgage deal!

I literally prayed, “if you are out there God, get me a better deal on my mortgage”, please note, that there was no please or thank you for this prayer, I didn’t have much faith for it! As I finish praying, my phone rang and it was someone on the phone who had got the wrong number, but he was actually looking for someone who lived a few doors up from me and I actually knew who this person was. I explained to the person on the phone that I thought this man’s telephone number was in the local parish magazine and I will try and find it for him, while we were talking, the gentleman on the phone happened to mention that he was a mortgage broker!

I was very surprised about this, so I asked the gentleman if he could get me a mortgage and he said he could! After a few weeks, I had a new mortgage at a very competitive rate, my heavenly Father had answered my first prayer.

The promises of God are true!

I was utterly amazed at what had happened to me, God had instantly answered my prayer! Twenty plus years on I have seen God do the miraculous many times, if you have a need, please ask in faith can be expectant.

John 14:13-14 is a great scripture to read!

13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask] anything in My name, I will do it.

Thank you for reading.

The Christian Internet Marketer