Asa Weeks, an Eighth-grade student at New Life Christian School in Frederick, Maryland was the 2014 Essay Contest Winner. He was awarded $100 in cash and prizes for his winning essay. Here is the text of his winning essay:
Prayer…
This world is nothing how God wanted it for us. It is full of hatred, worries and many other things that have, over the years, brought us farther and farther apart from Him. Wonderfully, The Lord has provided a way for us to speak with Him, through prayer we grow in our faith, go to Him for guidance, thank Him, and overall build back that gap that sin has created.
Our ages between 12 & 18 are the most difficult years of our lives. In this time we are changing physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We are constantly attempting to find out who we are, and what we want for ourselves in the future. These years are very dangerous for us. As we grow older, we are beginning to discover more of the world and are starting to make more of our own decisions. We tend to struggle with many things as we grow up, and sometimes the trouble we are having is really the big “problem” that hurts us. Today there are things that get us away from all of our worries we have on this world. Sadly most of these things have nothing to do with God. We may try to get away from our troubles with more earthly things like drugs, pictures on the internet, cursing, or even smaller things like friends or even sleeping. The point is, I truly believe that for a very high percentage of Christians, including myself, our first instinct in troublesome times is not to pray directly to the Lord. That is not how it is supposed to be.
In His word it is written, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6; NIV)
God the Father, the all-knowing, all loving, omnipresent being that we base our whole life on is telling us in black and white that we have nothing to worry about, as long as we have prayer and present ourselves to Him. WOW! It cannot get any more powerful than that. Prayer is more than just talking to God. It is, like I said earlier, closing that gap between us and the Almighty One. It is one of the strongest weapons in the war against Satan. Prayer is the Holy Spirit. When we accept Jesus’ sacrifice and allow the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts we get that tool of prayer and gain our chances to become the best human being we can.
Truly I believe that not one Christian has / will ever fully understand the power that is prayer. The only one to get “into” prayer was Jesus himself. Luke 22:39-45 tells the story of Jesus praying to his Father right before his crucifixion asking the Father to take him out of his situation. Jesus was so deeply compassionate with his prayer that he began to sweat blood. That is the true power of prayer. When we can get so emotionally attached with our prayer that we begin to sweat blood, then you know you have achieved spiritual greatness.
Now if for some reason you are still not convinced that Christ truly wants us to pray forcefully, His word says as simple as this, “Pray continually.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17; NIV)