The Power Of Prayer

Well. I have a bunch of long posts that I'm refining. So until I can get one of them postable (The question being, Should it be the music post, a love post, or an evangelizing post?) this is a short post. About prayer.

Prayer is important. We all have heard this at least, even if we don't get it. And, most of us don't get it. Why is prayer important? Does God need us to ask Him? Does His mind require changing? I thought He was omnipotent, and all knowing. Doesn't He know things need doing? Doesn't he care enough to help me on His own? 

The easiest example to use probably speaks to guys the best. How long does a relationship last when the girl expects the guy to know all of her needs and desires? Guy gets girl a purple scarf, she's mad cuz her favorite color is blue. But she never told him her favorite color, and most of her clothes are purple, so he guessed and was really excited to find her the scarf.

(You: but God knows everything)

Yes, yes He does. That wouldn't be a relationship, now, would it? That would be rather one sided. You get everything you want or need, and you don't ever talk to Him. Except occasionally to thank Him. 

(You: But.. He's God. He's above all that.)

Above all what? We were made in His image, complete with His emotions. Including sadness. Sorrow. Pain. You thought God was immune to that? No.

God feels pain. 

God feels pain every time you arrogantly expect Him to cater to your every need. 

Every time you turn from Him and try to fix it on your own instead of simply killing your pride and asking Him. 

Every time you get mad at Him for not being there. 

God feels pain when you do. Did you know what? The same way when someone you love is hurt, you want to fix it and help them and you empathize with them... God's like that. 

That doesn't make God more human. Because remember, He came first and made us in His image. Not the other way around. 

We were made to partner with His heart, to ask for things and pray for burdens so that it could be a shared joy.

He doesn't need us. He wants us. 

~Silver

Waiting....

Waiting.

What is waiting, other than something christians seem to do a lot of?

I'm learning to wait.

Right now, what I think it means is sitting still. You know, be still and know He is God? That sort of thing. But can you do stuff in stillness?

Maybe. I don't really know.

I think... I think waiting and being still means you aren't trying to make yourself do anything. It means you're not trying to make yourself stronger or more honest or more faithful or a harder worker.

It means you're just.... Being. It means you're sitting (Well, not literally sitting but whatevs.) and Thinking.

(You: Oh, well that's easy. I can do that)
No, you can't. cuz it's not thinking like... I think Sally and Mindy are cool people but they need to stop fighting over Jake cuz he and Rose make a perfect couple already.

That's easy thinking. Or thinking about yourself. That's easy too. Or thinking about what you're gonna do later, or what you're gonna wear or what your friend will say when you tell her what happened today... That's not being still. That's planning a future. And that's definitely not waiting.

You know when you're picking up a friend for school and they're taking forever and you're sitting in your car bored out of your skull and worried that you'll be late for class but you can't do anything about it?

That. That is waiting.

And if you read the old testament, people did a lot of that. They have to wait for Moses to go talk to God, they have to wait to go into the promise land, they have to wait for God before they can go decimate people in battle.

And if you pull a Saul and decide, screw this waiting sucks, you get immense consequences. Saul got his entire kingdom stripped from him.

Of courseeeeee...... God knows us. He knows how impatient we are. he knows how our tiny little selves are only so disciplined.

And he toook the kingdom from Saul not just cause he didn't wait, but mostly because Saul had a long history of doing what was bad from Israel simply cuz he wanted to look good.

God knows your heart. He punishes and rewards us based on that, not based on our actions. (Though... Actions do stem from the heart, most of the time.)

But back to waiting.

It's a discipline.
(You: So where does thinking come in?)

Fantastic question! The discipline set before us is meditation. Which is thinking. (You: Right. Got that. Still confused.)

Have patience I'm getting there.
Waiting, which is sitting still and thinking, which is meditation, has to be focused on something or else we humans tend to focus it by accident.

(You: Ok. Still confused though. What am I focusing on.)

God.

(you:......)

Right. Exactly. There's my problem. I think... Well, I sort of know anyways, what that means meditating on who God is and who He says I am. If you're thinking of yourself it's not good but if you're thinking of what God thinks of you (And asking Him. Not just thinking.) Then... That's good.

And you're waiting for an answer.

But... What if other than that you don't know what you're waiting for or what needs answered, you just know you're supposed to be waiting. What then?




~Silver