"Wait! Don't forget to pray!"

The other night I happened to still be awake studying when I heard the door to the children's room creak open. That creak was quickly followed by the little pitter-patter of Hosanna's feet as she came out of the room and ran to me.

"I had a bad dream," she said. "It was a dream about spiders that were everywhere in my bed and they were all over me. And I am scared that there really are spiders in my bed now."

Putting on my reassuring dad voice, I told her that it was just a bad dream and that there were not any spiders in her bed and that there was nothing to be afraid of. She could go back to sleep and not worry about a thing.

"But what if some spiders do get into my bed while I am sleeping? What if it really happens?"

"Well we will pray and trust that God is going to take care of us. Doesn't God promise that He is always with us and that He cares for us?"

"Yes."

"Then why don't you go to the bathroom and then I will tuck you back in bed." And with that she quickly went off to the bathroom and then grabbed my hand for the customary "tuck-in." So I put her in her bottom bunk while the other children slept, kissed her on the forehead, and as I turned to leave I told her that I would see her in the morning.

Then she said, "Wait! Don't forget to pray!" I was about to leave the room without praying! I had told her that I would pray for her, and even used that truth to reassure her, but yet I forgot to pray. Her confidence to remain in the bed rested upon us asking God for His help, yet here I was about to leave the room without asking Him to help her.

How often is that us? We tell someone, "I will pray for you," but then in the middle of life we get busy and forget. We may even commit to pray for a situation or a family or a ministry or a missionary, and we may even begin with great fervency, but after a time we just forget to pray for certain things.

This fact really hit home with me because our ministry relies upon the prayers of the people of God. We desperately need people to be praying for our family, our ministry, and the peoples of southern Senegal who need the Gospel. Prayer is not a strategy; prayer is the strategy. And the urgency of the Gospel and the unreached peoples of the world plead with us to never forget to pray.

That night I came back over to the bedside of Hosanna, leaned over near to her ear, and I prayed for her. I prayed that God would protect her from things seen and from things unseen. I thanked God for His power, strength, and care for His people. And then I kissed her again and left the room. Then I thanked God for all of the people that pray for us and who never forget.