Thoughts On Prayer
Prayer is a strange thing. It has never come easy for me. My attitude towards it goes something like this:
God knows me inside and out. Not only does He know my desires and dreams, He also knows how He plans to fulfill them. So is there really a point in me "praying" about such and such, when really God knows me better than I know myself anyways.
I feel like my thoughts about some things, my awareness of certain things, my acknowledgement of God's presence in some things are prayers in and of themselves. Is there a need for me to vocalise and set time aside to "pray" about them?
I always feel trite when I try to vocalise things to God. If we are "friends of God", then shouldn't God and I be experiencing life together, instead of me just saying a bunch of words to Him?
I find that many written prayers are beautiful - their poetry is really what inspires me. But prayer has to be more than words, right?
I have so much to learn. I know that prayer should change me, first and foremost. But how does that transformation happen?
I feel like I have never had a grasp on what true prayer really is. Sure, I can "pray out loud" and sound all nice. But what if prayer were to become a habit in my life that no one else knew about? Authentic conversation between God and I?
Are feelings prayers? After I watched Hotel Rwanda, I had so many emotions - could those emotions be translated to prayer? Just being aware of the suffering, and reflecting upon the plight of those less fortunate than me. Can that be a prayer, even if I don't ever say "Dear God, please help those people"?
And will my pleading change things? Or does God see beyond my pleading? It seems He always meets me five steps ahead of where I was thinking He would.
Just some thoughts...
God knows me inside and out. Not only does He know my desires and dreams, He also knows how He plans to fulfill them. So is there really a point in me "praying" about such and such, when really God knows me better than I know myself anyways.
I feel like my thoughts about some things, my awareness of certain things, my acknowledgement of God's presence in some things are prayers in and of themselves. Is there a need for me to vocalise and set time aside to "pray" about them?
I always feel trite when I try to vocalise things to God. If we are "friends of God", then shouldn't God and I be experiencing life together, instead of me just saying a bunch of words to Him?
I find that many written prayers are beautiful - their poetry is really what inspires me. But prayer has to be more than words, right?
I have so much to learn. I know that prayer should change me, first and foremost. But how does that transformation happen?
I feel like I have never had a grasp on what true prayer really is. Sure, I can "pray out loud" and sound all nice. But what if prayer were to become a habit in my life that no one else knew about? Authentic conversation between God and I?
Are feelings prayers? After I watched Hotel Rwanda, I had so many emotions - could those emotions be translated to prayer? Just being aware of the suffering, and reflecting upon the plight of those less fortunate than me. Can that be a prayer, even if I don't ever say "Dear God, please help those people"?
And will my pleading change things? Or does God see beyond my pleading? It seems He always meets me five steps ahead of where I was thinking He would.
Just some thoughts...
posted by Thais at 12:18 PM
2 Comments:
Moi, je dis RAHAT LOUKOUM over and over, and je me sens tres proche de la presence ruisselante de notre Seigneur qui est benit aux cieux.
Ps: rahat loukoum, en anglais, c'est Turkish Delight. Just in case you were wondering rwhy you sometimes received them in the boite a gants qui ne se ferme pas de ta chere OMC.
There have been times when I knew I was relating to God 'horizontally', rather than 'vertically' - if that makes sense. Where He is so involved in our life, thoughts, emotions etc. that it's like turning around and just conversing with Him. This might be one of the things a life of prayer should be about. Tuning ourselves to Him and being transformed by justement involving Him in everything.
"Authentic conversation between God and I"
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