I want to pray more.. but...
Just the beginning of the transformation i am seeking for. and also as a respond to my role in PKA next sidang, i've began to search for the answer to achieve a prayerful life...
I believe most Christians have come across this question: How do i achieve a prayerful life? How much do i have to pray to have a life pleasing unto God?
I myself have actually wanted an answer also since a long time ago, but i guess its the new role i got that actually give me the boost to really hunt down the answer(s)......
Well, in this busy life of ours, how is it logical that we spend hours and hours to pray and seek God each day? Indeed we should pray a lot so how much is a lot? minutes? sounds to little right...? hours? hmm... kind of tough in this life of ours where work and other distractions just attacks us 3-sixty degrees..
So how? if we spend enough time to seek God, pray, and listen to God's voice, then how about our work? how about family? how about friends? They too take time from us. Sounds frustrating doesn't it? Not to mentioned that we need a substantial amount of sleep everyday which otherwise will affect our services unto God, true?
Some might say minutes of prayer is good enough as long as God is pleased with it. God treats different people differently. Some people have to pray a longer period of time, some less, till they sense the fullness of the strength in them in which they have drawn from the Holy Spirit. But then, its always good, if not better, to pray longer, right? So do we need to sacrifice our daily activities, even those that are considered essential, to spend more time in prayer?? Hmm....
I believe that we have to spend a lot of time in prayer, and it is good that we have the urge to want to spend more time with Him. But what is it that is stopping us from doing so? I believe that it is us. oh wait, i KNOW it is us. Yes, us. We ourselves need to give ourselves up to Him. You might ask, how does us giving ourselves up affects our prayer life? Well, here's the connection. There is still that attitude of independence in all of us, attitude of depending on ourselves instead of God. That is why we are not perfect. The only man i know that is perfect in this manner is none other than Jesus (well, Adam was, before he fell). Jesus acknowledges God's sovereignty over all, including himself,and therefore relies on God the Father totally in everything, and in that attitude, constantly keeps His communication line with His Father active.
The same goes for each of us. The battle that we have to fight is not with the distractions of the world or with other people, but with ourselves. The moment we win the battle of independence with ourselves is the moment we cannot but to always look to God in everything that we do. We will stop depending on our own strength even in the simplest activity of life, such as waking up from our bed. We will rely totally on God in absolutely everything! And we cannot do that but to constantly ask our Father for help, for His presence, for Him to be in all that we do. And prayer is about that, and much more! It is about talking to our Father, and vice versa. So we will be going about doing our daily activities, but with God's presence strongly in mind all the time. With that, prayer becomes our lifestyle!
PRAYER IS A LIFESTYLE
