That Thing Called Prayer

Whenever we hear or talk about prayer, we equate the word with the Almighty Creator. Prayer is the means of communication between man and his Creator. It is the medium by which man transmits his intentions to God.

All over the world, people of different races, beliefs, and cultures embrace different religions. Depending on the country, some religion may be dominant than the others. Dominance of one over the others does not mean unequal rights to exercise each religion. Respect for each other prevails in most situations. This is the principle that the great Pope John Paul II wants delivered to the world. Men/women have equal rights to embrace his/her choice of religion without prejudice to the others. After all, all religions are centered to belief in God. A non-religious person does not mean he/she does not believe in God.

We cannot discount though that there are a few of us who doubt that the Almighty Creator exist. Perhaps this might help change their perception from a doubter to a believer.

I think at one time or another, it had occurred to all of us to try to find answers to questions such as:

How did life originate?

Where did the earth and the universe and everything in them come from or

Who made them?

In short, who started all of these?

Personally, I think we will not find the answer if we stick to our sense of reasoning on natural laws even if we live nine lives. That leaves us only one option – that the Almighty Creator started all these.

The wonderful thing about these creations, living or otherwise, including us, is that they are all unique. Even identical twins are not alike. No one thing is an exact replica of the other. DNA will prove this.

For the purpose of this subject, we will use God as the center of our faith. But what if you’re not a Christian?  The same principle goes.

It doesn’t matter what religion you’re in.  The important thing is that you have deep  spiritual faith.

Studies have shown that having this kind of faith actually prolongs your life.  The inner peace that your faith brings can contribute significantly to good mental & emotional health.

If you have deep spiritual faith, you have the power to conquer all obstacles that come along the way.

In the context of goal realization, prayer plays one of the most important, if not the most important part. Taking away prayer from the pursuit of our goal is like taking the spine away from a human body. Everything collapses. The importance of prayer cannot be overstated.

A goal originated from an idea while an idea originated from our mind. What originates from our mind originates from God. I believe that is a fair concept. Since God is the original source of our idea to a goal, it is natural that we ask God to guide us all the way in our pursuit, to aid us in times of need, to thank Him for every success no matter how big or small, and to offer back to Him whatever we have accomplished. And the medium we can use to have access to God is through prayer.

When two or more persons want to discuss something, they talk and listen through their lips and ears with the brains as the central processing units. Looks like we’re going high tech. It’s slightly different when we communicate with God through prayers, telling Him our personal intentions. We do the talking, God does the listening. We tell Him our problems or intentions. He listens and finds solutions or answers to them. He acts and tells us His responses through our thoughts, our minds. The rest is up to us.

Sometimes, two persons argue due to differences in opinions. Again with God, it is slightly different. He won’t complain like we usually do nor argue with us even if we pour out our aches and pains to Him and start to blame Him for all these. He will just be silently listening and wait till we come to our senses. One way or the other, He knows we will. Once our senses are back on the right track, He will start to work through our thoughts, just like before and let us know what we need to know.

For as long as our intentions are attuned to things that will bring good to us and to our neighbors, expect full support from Him.

Remember that we need God in our lives. In return, He responds to our needs as proof of His love for us. With this in mind, whenever we approach Him, be honest and sincere. Approach Him with a humble and contrite heart.

I am a Catholic by religion. And in our religion, we have fixed prayers like the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. When we pray the rosary (I hope you are familiar with it), these three prayers are used and repeatedly said a number of times.

I used to wonder why prayers are repeated many times over. Over and over again, day after day, week after week, and so on, it’s the same prayers. I mentioned ‘used to’ because I believe I found the answer. I don’t know if you’ll agree but I’ll share it with you anyway.

A prayer is repeatedly said, not for God’s benefit, but for our own. God wants to instill in us the value and habit of practice. As we all know, practice makes perfect. He uses prayers as an instrument of forming this habit of practice in us. The question is “what for”?

By practicing positive attitudes in life over and over again, we may ultimately develop these attitudes and keep them in us for good. It’s like learning to drive a car, you get to be a good driver only through practice.

If we want to instill positive values/attitudes needed for goal realization but you find it difficult to start doing so, it will even be more difficult to sustain it in time and the only way to do it is by practice. This is tantamount to conditioning our mind, body, and spirit into this habit. Once we are used to it, it will remain in us for good.

At times, we have problems that seem to surmount us and we approach God for help but He seems to be nowhere in sight, we feel that God is neglecting us. We begin to shy away from Him and start to blame Him for all the problems we have. It is as if we have built a wall separating God from us. When other people notice this condition in us and we tell them the reason why, they would say: “God has His reasons. He knows what is best for us.” However, we are not convinced. This has some similarity to the story “Footprints in the Sand” if you’re familiar with it. Anyway, in the story, a man could see two sets of footprints on the sand during his good times. One set belonged to the man, the other to the Lord. During bad times, the man could see only one set of footprints and he would wonder why the Lord would leave him during his lowest moments in life. The Lord replied:  “I would never leave you. Every time you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

Here are some food for thought and soul which I believe is the reason or reasons why the Lord is silent to our problems (some of the answers are in the form of questions that reflects back to us):

1. Did I approach the Lord without a ready pre-condition? Is it possible that I told myself: “If the Lord does not help me on this, I will loose faith in Him. It’s His lost, not mine.”


2. If the Lord acted favorably to solve my problem, will His actions make me a stronger person?


3. Keep in mind that the Lord will not let your prayer go unanswered in your lifetime. I have encountered this personally.

Remember that prayer is the ultimate solution to our troubles and problems.

Prayers need not be the last resort or option if we encounter difficulties. It can be the first.

Make it a habit to pray to God, not only during bad times but also during simple times. Treat Him as your friend. God could use some company too. And don’t forget to thank Him for good times.

That Thing Called Prayer

 

Whenever we hear or talk about prayer, we equate the word with the Almighty Creator. Prayer is the means of communication between man and his Creator. It is the medium by which man transmits his intentions to God.

All over the world, people of different races, beliefs, and cultures embrace different religions. Depending on the country, some religion may be dominant than the others. Dominance of one over the others does not mean unequal rights to exercise each religion. Respect for each other prevails in most situations. This is the principle that the great Pope John Paul II wants delivered to the world. Men/women have equal rights to embrace his/her choice of religion without prejudice to the others. After all, all religions are centered to belief in God. A non-religious person does not mean he/she does not believe in God.

We cannot discount though that there are a few of us who doubt that the Almighty Creator exist. Perhaps this might help change their perception from a doubter to a believer.

I think at one time or another, it had occurred to all of us to try to find answers to questions such as:

How did life originate?

Where did the earth and the universe and everything in them come from or

Who made them?

In short, who started all of these?

Personally, I think we will not find the answer if we stick to our sense of reasoning on natural laws even if we live nine lives. That leaves us only one option – that the Almighty Creator started all these.

The wonderful thing about these creations, living or otherwise, including us, is that they are all unique. Even identical twins are not alike. No one thing is an exact replica of the other. DNA will prove this.

For the purpose of this subject, we will use God as the center of our faith. But what if you’re not a Christian?  The same principle goes.

It doesn’t matter what religion you’re in.  The important thing is that you have deep  spiritual faith.

Studies have shown that having this kind of faith actually prolongs your life.  The inner peace that your faith brings can contribute significantly to good mental & emotional health.

If you have deep spiritual faith, you have the power to conquer all obstacles that come along the way.

In the context of goal realization, prayer plays one of the most important, if not the most important part. Taking away prayer from the pursuit of our goal is like taking the spine away from a human body. Everything collapses. The importance of prayer cannot be overstated.

A goal originated from an idea while an idea originated from our mind. What originates from our mind originates from God. I believe that is a fair concept. Since God is the original source of our idea to a goal, it is natural that we ask God to guide us all the way in our pursuit, to aid us in times of need, to thank Him for every success no matter how big or small, and to offer back to Him whatever we have accomplished. And the medium we can use to have access to God is through prayer.

When two or more persons want to discuss something, they talk and listen through their lips and ears with the brains as the central processing units. Looks like we’re going high tech. It’s slightly different when we communicate with God through prayers, telling Him our personal intentions. We do the talking, God does the listening. We tell Him our problems or intentions. He listens and finds solutions or answers to them. He acts and tells us His responses through our thoughts, our minds. The rest is up to us.

Sometimes, two persons argue due to differences in opinions. Again with God, it is slightly different. He won’t complain like we usually do nor argue with us even if we pour out our aches and pains to Him and start to blame Him for all these. He will just be silently listening and wait till we come to our senses. One way or the other, He knows we will. Once our senses are back on the right track, He will start to work through our thoughts, just like before and let us know what we need to know.

For as long as our intentions are attuned to things that will bring good to us and to our neighbors, expect full support from Him.

Remember that we need God in our lives. In return, He responds to our needs as proof of His love for us. With this in mind, whenever we approach Him, be honest and sincere. Approach Him with a humble and contrite heart.

I am a Catholic by religion. And in our religion, we have fixed prayers like the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. When we pray the rosary (I hope you are familiar with it), these three prayers are used and repeatedly said a number of times.

I used to wonder why prayers are repeated many times over. Over and over again, day after day, week after week, and so on, it’s the same prayers. I mentioned ‘used to’ because I believe I found the answer. I don’t know if you’ll agree but I’ll share it with you anyway.

A prayer is repeatedly said, not for God’s benefit, but for our own. God wants to instill in us the value and habit of practice. As we all know, practice makes perfect. He uses prayers as an instrument of forming this habit of practice in us. The question is “what for”?

By practicing positive attitudes in life over and over again, we may ultimately develop these attitudes and keep them in us for good. It’s like learning to drive a car, you get to be a good driver only through practice.

If we want to instill positive values/attitudes needed for goal realization but you find it difficult to start doing so, it will even be more difficult to sustain it in time and the only way to do it is by practice. This is tantamount to conditioning our mind, body, and spirit into this habit. Once we are used to it, it will remain in us for good.

At times, we have problems that seem to surmount us and we approach God for help but He seems to be nowhere in sight, we feel that God is neglecting us. We begin to shy away from Him and start to blame Him for all the problems we have. It is as if we have built a wall separating God from us. When other people notice this condition in us and we tell them the reason why, they would say: “God has His reasons. He knows what is best for us.” However, we are not convinced. This has some similarity to the story “Footprints in the Sand” if you’re familiar with it. Anyway, in the story, a man could see two sets of footprints on the sand during his good times. One set belonged to the man, the other to the Lord. During bad times, the man could see only one set of footprints and he would wonder why the Lord would leave him during his lowest moments in life. The Lord replied:  “I would never leave you. Every time you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

Here are some food for thought and soul which I believe is the reason or reasons why the Lord is silent to our problems (some of the answers are in the form of questions that reflects back to us):

1. Did I approach the Lord without a ready pre-condition? Is it possible that I told myself: “If the Lord does not help me on this, I will loose faith in Him. It’s His lost, not mine.”


2. If the Lord acted favorably to solve my problem, will His actions make me a stronger person?


3. Keep in mind that the Lord will not let your prayer go unanswered in your lifetime. I have encountered this personally.

Remember that prayer is the ultimate solution to our troubles and problems.

Prayers need not be the last resort or option if we encounter difficulties. It can be the first.

Make it a habit to pray to God, not only during bad times but also during simple times. Treat Him as your friend. God could use some company too. And don’t forget to thank Him for good times.

That Thing Called Prayer