One year I was with a group in China visiting the Great Wall. The weather was beautiful that day and there was a huge crowd of people (mostly Chinese) walking and climbing the many steps on the Wall. A lady in our group was standing beside me as we were just taking in the sights -- the Wall and all the people there. This lady asked that as we were standing there that I say a prayer for China and the Chinese people. On the Wall there in China as people were walking past us this lady and I had a special prayer time, talking to God. God has given each one of us an extraordinary means to communicate with Him. We don’t have to be in a special place or assume any special position to approach God in prayer. The Bible gives us examples of people praying in different places. Without a doubt the most unusual place where anyone prayed was Jonah -- in the belly of a great fish. We also read of Paul and Silas praying and singing while they were in prison (Acts 16:25), Peter praying on a roof (Acts 10:9), Nehemiah prayed in the presence of King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:4), Daniel prayed in an upstairs room with the windows opened toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10). Jesus, our perfect model in all things, prayed on a mountain (Matthew 14:23, Luke 6:12), in front of a tomb (John 11:41,42) and in a garden (Matthew 26:36-56). Actually, I can’t think of any place where we can’t pray. In 1962 a ruling by the Supreme Court prohibited state-sanctioned or mandatory prayer in public schools. Since that time I’ve heard people say, “They’ve taken prayer out of our schools.” I don’t think any government, any official, any court could ever remove prayer out of schools, the workplace or any other area. Students, teachers and support staff can still go to God in prayer anytime during the school day. People at work, regardless of where they work, can take a few moments during their busy workday to say a prayer.
I found a song that begins like this: “Anytime, anywhere I can pray. And Jehovah will hear what I say.” How true! Thanks be to our God and Father that He is always there to listen when we call on Him and we can call Him “anytime, anywhere.”