Prayer Meetings

   

Prayer Meetings

by

Madelyn Shields

 Daddy was a preacher and a pray-er. Daddy could preach the fear of God into you, but his praying was thunderous. One would think that God was going to strike with lightening if you even moved wrong.
    
When that praying spirit hit Daddy, it hit the whole house. ! Like I said, the whole house prayed. Daddy would call us all to the living room and say, "We NEED to pray!" So, pray, we did.  "Here, let's all kneel,"  and we would all find a spot to pray. Mother at an easy chair, Daddy at the couch, and Karen and I right beside him. Keep in mind, there was no time limit. No five minutes, 30 minutes, no, we did not pray by the clock! We prayed until Daddy felt like he had moved heaven and earth!

Karen and I were very small; didn't matter. We stayed on our knees...We would start praying and calling on God with fervency. But a minute into the "prayer meeting," I was prayed out. Karen would hold out a little longer...she is the oldest...anyway, as Daddy would bombard heaven I learned to play many games...quietly!

  Daddy had a method of praying...first of all, he gave "Thanks to God" for everything he could think of, both great and small. The size of the blessing didn't matter. Daddy gave thanks. Secondly, came what I called the "rebukes!"  He would rebuke anything or anyone who was not Christ like,or had not acted like a christian or came against one of God's saints. As Daddy prayed through all the rebukes, I would draw imaginary house, people in all shapes and sizes, and follow the designs on that pink upholstered couch. Then came the praying through the scriptures. Now, I loved this part because I could envision God raising up a standard in front of the Devil, or the Three Hebrew children,plus God, stepping out of that furnace that was lit seven times hotter. I can forget old Daniel in the den of lions and God putting these giant rubber bands around the lions mouths. Every time they tried to open them, the rubber bands would make them snap shut. I can still hear Daddy saying "Just like you delivered David from Goliath!" And if you listen you could hear and even see the most wonderful, exciting things that happened in the olden days like Noah marching those animals, two by two into that monstrous Ark, and floating on the flood instead of dying in the flood. His prayers convinced me that God would deliver. We would travels the Psalm and hit on Proverbs. We learned who created the heavens and the earth and we knew that God would pour out His judgement on those that would not "heed" His word.

Sometimes at the end we would sing a song or two, while intoned to Heaven. "Precious Name, oh how sweet" or "Some through the fire, some through the flood, Some through great trials but all through the blood," or "Count your blessings."

Through it all we would sit on the floor, get on our knees awhile, sit on the floor, get on our knees awhile, draw on the couch, thinking that the prayer meetings would never end.

I cherish those prayerful lessons that I learned at such an early age. These are the kind of altars that we learn to build our lives on; the altars of Daddy's Prayers.

Oh, the happy memories I have of those Prayer Meetings when I was just a kid!