Last week we had a really nice event at our church. It wasn’t a worship service, but it was a time to “give honor to those to whom honor is due.”

Our long time organist has retired and is moving out of state closer to children.

The interesting thing about our organist is that he plays both the organ and the fiddle. I asked him one time what the difference is between a violin and a fiddle. His answer? The way you play it.

We had organ music and a blue grass band, and it was a fun time.

One of the songs the band played made we think about more than music and more than simply hearing a band.

They played and sang, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Have you thought of those words lately? They are filled with meaning.

I was particularly moved by the opening verse:

“What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer! Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer.”

As I listened to the band, I kept coming back to this hymn and how it is steeped in Scripture.

What should we do about the difficulties of life? We should pray. God invites us, encourages us, and even exhorts us to come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). He wants us to pray and He wants us to spend time with Him. God desires that we cast our cares on Him because He deeply cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

Paul demanded of the Philippian Christians to be prayerful in all things and therefore anxious about nothing. “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

That is exactly the way Jesus lived His earthly existence. Before He called His disciples, Jesus prayed through the night. As His crucifixion approached, He went to the garden to pray and He wanted Peter, James, and John to pray with Him.

Do you know what a privilege prayer is? Do you recognize that when people ask us to pray that we have the opportunity to go before the Father and to spend time in His presence calling out the names of others who so desperately need God?

It is such a privilege to pray and to intercede for others, and it is such a blessing to put everything in the hands of our loving, Heavenly Father.

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