At Dad’s funeral our pastor Brother Jack talked about how Dad had impacted his life. He spoke of an incident or two that, while praying, he heard the love and respect my dad had for him and how it impacted his self-image and further kindled his fire for ministry. But the comment that made me smile the most and say “amen” was: “No short prayers came out of Brother Coker’s mouth!” My dad had a way of getting into a routine with his prayers. He wanted to make sure everything and everybody was covered before he said “amen!” Though he may have repeated himself, the one thing I learned from him was that prayer was serious business and its value was not something you could measure with an earthly mentality.

That concept was reinforced deeply when I renewed the acquaintance of a man I respect deeply to this day. I first met him when he was traveling as part of an evangelistic family. Paul later came to work on our church staff. Before the Sunday morning sermon he would quote a whole chapter from the Bible. I am still in awe of someone who has committed that much time and energy to ingesting God’s word. Though Paul is no longer in a pastoral role, he continues to minister in ways that amaze me. In one of our conversations when I was trying to arrange some time together he communicated to me that he was on the way to the county courthouse to walk around it and pray because of the spiritual impact a certain case would have. While he sees himself in a more prophetic role today, I continue to be astounded at his commitment to Kingdom principles.

I hope that you will find men or women in your life that impact you the way these men have me. Prayer is not something to be taken lightly or flippantly. It is the factor that reminds Deity of your commitment to the Kingdom, your position in that Kingdom and the promised resources available to you from that same Kingdom. Prayer will shape and mold your personality and help you become all you were intended to be. It will be the difference between your being a strong or weak person. It will mean the difference between simple aspirations and realistic hope. Prayer will define you as an individual and be the finishing polish on the facets of the gem Deity created you to be.

Your mom and I pray for you regularly. Part of your feelings of security come from the prayers of protection and blessings we offer up in your behalf. Even though I know Christ is interceding for me at this very moment, I feel the loss of my parents’ prayers even now. Not that I feel empty, just that I know they are focused eternally, rather than temporally now. Develop prayer consistency now and we will reinforce your efforts by asking God to honor your prayers as long as He keeps us here with you.

You will never pray too much or too often.

Love, Dad