Prayer

One of my friends recently asked me what prayer meant to me and asked why I pray... It took me a while to gather my thoughts but when I got it all together I said that I see prayer as a means of communication. My mentor once told me to wholeheartedly pray for those who you necessarily don't like, because you will begin to see them how God sees them. Its amazing how your views of that person can change when you bring them before the almighty Father. I also said that another reason I pray is because its a way of communication and relationships develop through communication. How will I know if God is in something if I haven't truly experienced His presence and can recognize it.

One of the best prayers I have ever heard was when I went to my youth minister's house for dinner. His wife had made this awesome meal, and when Shamus (the youth minister) asked his kids who wanted to pray, his little girl Ellie (aged 4) and little boy Cooper (aged 7) both raised their hands at the same time. Shamus then said they could both pray but that Ellie could go first, this didn't please Cooper one bit as he claimed that Ellie always got to go first but he reluctantly carried on and accepted that he would go second. Ellie in her sweetest voice opened up with "Dear Jesus... thank you for today... and thank you that Mommy did not cook poison for dinner", Cooper then joined in with "Dear Jesus, I pray that one day I'll be able to pray first".

I loved how the kids approached this prayer, with such a rawness. I look back in my prayer journal and I can see where I started all formal-like in my prayers thinking that they had to be a certain way. But as I read on I see a vast array of emotion; I see where I could barely contain myself because something awesome had happened, or I see when I nearly ripped pages with my pen because I was so frustrated or stressed or I can see the rare days I had a wee cry in the pages and the ink had spread into blotches. You see God doesn't care how we come to Him, He just cares that we are there. He doesn't want more from us, He wants more of us.

When I went to Southland Christian Church today the sermon was on (funnily enough) prayer. Jon Weece opened up the question with "How do you pray?". Jon said, "first, say nothing". It is only when we say nothing, that we hear everything. There is a seismic difference between God as a concept and God as a reality. We can sit in our bible studies and classes, and wrap God in different theological terms and processes, but these are nothing in comparison to actually experiencing His presence in our lives. Jon claimed that we should say nothing, enter into the presence of God and then say everything. Remember who you are talking to; In the presence of God the King...say nothing, in the presence of God the Father... say everything.

Jon gave a formula for how to pray and it goes like this:

1. "God, Thank you for... "

2. "God, Help me... "

3. "God, Use me..." 

This formula isn't rocket science, but so many times we focus on one too much or forget about one or two all together. 

Always remember, if it matters to you it will matter to God. Every situation hinges on whose hands it lies in and although it's extremely difficult to lay our situations into the hands of God, He is the only one we can lay them into the hands of.