I could not remember the price Reuben paid for having had sex with one of his father’s wives – here it is.

These are the descendants of Reuben, the oldest of Jacob’s sons. (Because he had sex with one of his father’s concubines, he lost the rights belonging to the first-born son, and those rights were given to Joseph. It was the tribe of Judah, however, that became the strongest and provided a ruler for all the tribes.) – 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 GNT

When a family member falls away and sins, it does not blot the anxious prayers of the family, even of the sinner. We belong to one another. No matter how famous or infamous we become there is a vital defect in our character, if it shows up – we fail to remember all that makes our home the beginning of our greatness.

They put their trust in God and prayed to him for help, and God answered their prayers and made them victorious over the Hagrites and their allies. 1 Chronicles 5:20 GNT

On the contrary, everything can be traced to the immediate action and purpose of God. I love the fact that the leaders of Reuben were part of this story. A little more than 44,000 thousand men, soldiers, and yet they turned the battlefield into a house of prayer. Circumstances give to prayer it’s real significance. It is a shame that sometimes we pray with only words, absent of feelings. For my comfort, I remember God knows all the circumstances under which I pray. I know the quietness of my manner of praying does not impair the passion of my meaning. 

God is the one who made the mountains
    and created the winds.
He makes his thoughts known to people;
    he changes day into night.
    He walks on the heights of the earth.
This is his name: the Lord God Almighty! – Amos 4:13 GNT

In every action that takes place has in its background, character, on which the foundation of the action rests – it is from here the action gets its life and meaning.

If I look at prayer – the action is intense, it is an immediate desire for blessing – the background is quiet, it is a passionate desire that the will of God should be done. As it was in Jesus’s prayer in the garden it is with all true prayer.

There is another reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer that seems if possible even more forcible than this, namely, praying is the most important part of the present ministry of our risen Lord. – R.A. Torrey