Hey Folks! It's late, but this is the only time I can get to myself to put some thoughts down to share. Last week, at Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) I talked about prayer...zzz. Oh wait, did I bore you? I hope not, but I think we aren't always really listening when it comes to prayer. It's old news and we have heard it a million times. BUT-I think we need to start again. God's mercies are new every day and I think it's time to rally and start a new (or inject some oompf into our current) prayer life. Let's begin by talking about what prayer is. A list of what prayer is could be infinite, but I choose a few things to focus on this and last week at CCM. In fact, we are going to keep talking about prayer all month.
Here goes:
1) Communication with God
2) An act of trust in God that He can handle our needs
3) An act of humility and surrender - a way of admitting that we can't do this on our own and surrendering to God's will.
4) Intimacy between God and man - If the relationship between God and man is portrayed to us in scripture as a marriage relationship, then are we experiencing intimacy with God. Are we making ourselves available to our spouse? Are we setting aside time to be alone together? Are we getting to know each other in a deep way? I can't imagine what marriage would be without those elements. Imagine this: A married couple meets up at home at the end of the day and one spouse says to the other, "Hey honey, I want to spend some special time with you. Let's snuggle on the couch and talk." They sit down on the couch and wrap their arms around each other and one whispers in the other's ear, "Can you give me some money? Ooh hey-i'd love for you to cut the grass. Oh! and don't forget our neighbor. They are sick, can you help?" Now, don't get me wrong, I think there is definitely a time to ask God for things (of course, He already knows what we need), and I think when we ask him, we are using and trust and dependence, so i'm all for that. But-what would you think of your special someone if they spent their time asking you to give them stuff when you just want to love on them?
I hope this is coming off correctly. I'm not trying to oversimplify this stuff, but we understand love and what we want in an earthly relationship. Why would we give God any less than what we would give our spouse, family, or friends? Namely: conversation, quality time, praise and encouragement, appreciation, attention, etc. This may feel weird to try to relate to God as a you would any other real person because this is not what at least I experienced for most of my life. However, we have to start somewhere. Prayer keeps up alive and connected to the LIVING, LOVING God! We need that and God wants that. Any takers?
Blame it on my recent viewing of the movie "War Room," but i'm hungry for a life of prayer and the manifestation of God's EVERYTHING in the situations that I feel led to pray for each day. In case you haven't noticed, the Bible is full of all kinds of prayer experiences. People prayed to God and He made the impossible possible. God spoke to people in dreams and gave them directions and solutions. God healed people of illnesses. Jesus got away to rest and pray with His father after He ministered to His followers. Jesus overcame His fears in prayer (John 17) before His crucifixion and angels came to minister to Him. Jesus prayed for his executioners from the cross-LIKE A BOSS, I MIGHT ADD! I don't know about you, but i want to experience the power of God and the power of prayer every day.
Now, will prayer always feel awesome? No, and that's okay. Sometimes we do things for and with the people we love for THEM and not because we feel like it. That's. what. love. is.
to be continued...
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