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| Jesus at Prayer in Gethsemane |
The Spirit of God works in people and in places where we least expect. Always be alert to God’s presence in daily life. That’s what the Bible is about.
The letter of John and the Gospel challenge us to love one another as God loves us: unconditionally. Matthew Chapter 25 clarifies that we love God to the extent that we care for one another.
Jesus chose us as friends. He invites us to nurture that friendship, especially through prayer, placing ourselves daily in the presence of God.
But how does prayer work? C.S. Lewis wrote a series of letters in which Screwtape, a senior devil, advises an apprentice how to win a soul for the devil. One method, Screwtape explains, is to create so much noise that people can no longer hear God. Does this ring true? TV, radio, phones, etc., can distract us from hearing God’s voice in our lives. Sometimes we can barely hear ourselves think. The devil’s strategy—keeping us from God--seems to work.
Jesus and the heroes and heroines of Christianity prayed often, quietly with God. Prayer's a two-way street, essential for intimate relationship. Some guidelines:
Keep it real. C.S. Lewis wrote, “The prayer preceding all prayers is, ‘May it be the real “I” who speaks. May it be the real “Thou” that I speak to.’”
Keep it quiet. Jesus went up the mountain to pray. Find a place to pray without distraction. Jesus encourages us to find time to be alone with God so we can offload our guilt, our problems, our worries.
Keep it simple. It is not the length of prayer but the sincerity.
Jesus also taught his disciples to be persistent: asking, seeking, knocking. Our heavenly Father knows what we need. And there’s a pattern to prayer, which Jesus taught us in the Our Father: because we and God are family, heirs to the kingdom of heaven; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Satisfy our basic needs. Forgive us as we forgive those who wrong us. Don’t let us succumb to evils that will jeopardize our relationship with you, God.
Does God answer our prayers? The simple answer is yes, but not always as we would like. Sometimes we isolate prayer to “church” at particular times. But God is in all of life: in moments of joy, sadness, nitty-gritty daily work, and in times of doubt and disappointment. Look beneath and beyond appearances to see the reality of God all around us, even at the Kentucky Derby! Take time for quiet intimacy with God, and also make everything we do, even the nitty-gritty of daily life, a prayer.
