Praying

Many Christians know that pray is the way we communicate with the Lord, yet not so many of us know how to have a good communication with Him. It is like our relationship with family, friends, and other people surround us—a good communication is two ways communications. In fact, many of us only have one way communication with God that we are the one who dominate the conversation. It is not healthy relationship, isn’t it? Imagine we have a conversation with a friend/relative/spouse, and we are the only one who is speaking all the time. Well, it cannot be considered as conversation then. It is not even a good relationship either. So, today, I would like to share how to pray—what are do and don’t in a prayer, and who should we pray for.

As I mention before, communication is needed in a relationship; however, communication does take time. It is also consuming our time; yet, it is required to create a good relationship. So, take your time when you are praying, and don’t rush it! Imagine you meet your friend somewhere and you greet him, “Hey A, how are you? I am doing good now.. Oh I also bla bla.. Alright then bye.” Your friend doesn’t even reply your greet yet, but you already leave him. How do you feel when it happened to you? Sad? Angry? Is it the so-called relationship? Is it a conversation? Nope.

Jesus gave us an example of pray in Matthew 6: 5-15, and it is supposed to be our guideline of pray. First of all, we need to give glory to Him. He is the creator, and He is the only One who deserves the glory. Secondly, ask for forgiveness, and then tell Him what you want to tell Him.. your desires.. your struggle.. everything.

In Matthew 6 is explained what are dos and don’ts in a prayer.

-      Don’ts:

·   be like hypocrites, who pray for their own image >> to be recognized as a good/religious person. (v. 5)

·   Use repetition like heathen does. (v. 7) >> our Father knows everything we need and desires before we ask Him, but again.. He wants a relationship with us. Imagine that a son comes to his father and says, “hi Dad, today I need bla bla bla” and then leave before his father answer him.

·   Or even pray very berry short >> In Indo, it's like pray “Pak Simin” (Bapak terima kasih Amin..) Nope. Please take your time when you pray.

-      Dos:

·   Pray secretly (v.6) >> pray in quiet/secret place, just between you and God.

·   Pray openly and honest for He knows our desires (v. 8) >> remember, He knows everything about us.

·   Let His will be done in us.

He knows everything about us, yet He want to have relationship with us.. He wants to have a communication with us personally—personally without any middle man. He reminds us that His sheep know their Shepherd voice. When we are in a crowd, and then someone we know calls us, somehow we will recognize his/her voice, yes?  

However, we also need to be careful with our motivation in prayer; most of time we pray only for ourselves. We pray for our own wealth, health, and goodness. We tend to forget praying for others. Remember, as brother and sister, all of us should pray for one another. Indeed, our fingers can help us to remember who we need to pray for.

-    Thumb  >> thumb is the closest finger to us. So begin by praying for those closest to us. He has promised, when someone is saved, He will save his or her whole family. It doesn’t mean that we have nothing to do. Here, we should do our part too which is praying for our family member. The stronger in spirit (us) should fight for those who are weak.

-    Index finger (pointer) >> it reminds us to pray for those who teach us; Bible teachers, preachers, and those who teach children. All of us are His witnesses. He calls all of us to be fishers of men. Teacher and preacher also need our prayers; because they are judged harder compare to us. (Matthew 18: 4-6).

-    Middle finger >> it's not for cursing others! indeed, it is the tallest.. it reminds us to pray for those in authorities over us; government, our teachers at school, our boss, our supervisors. Why we should pray for them? Because they lead us.. they lead this country.  Let’s read 1 Timothy 2: 1-2 and Jeremiah 29: 7. On those verses are clearly states that we should pray for our authority. Where ever we are, whatever our job is, and who ever our authority is, we should pray to the Lord for them.

-    Ring finger >> this finger is the weakest—people who play music (piano, guitar, violin, etc) will notice this. It reminds us to pray for those who are in struggle and suffering (James 5: 13-16). It can be our church member, or someone we don’t know who is persecuted. Again, the stronger should pray for the weaker.

-    And the last is our little finger >> this finger reminds us that we are small compared to God, and we need Him in every single time (Philippians 4: 6, 19). We need to ask God for what we desire with thanksgiving, not in grumble; and He will fulfill all our needs.

Whatever method we use, just talk to Him through what He teach us. He loves to hear our sincere prayer. Jesus is not far, He is just a prayer away. However, there is time when we cannot pray.. when we don’t have desire to read His love letter.. when we are tired of our spiritual battle.. when those times come, it is when God will answer our prayer. Don’t stop praying! It’s Satan who tries to hinder us from God’s will. If we don’t have desire to pray, praise Him in worship, and prayer will come after.

A good prayer is not the one that comes from us, but the one that comes from Holy Spirit. In 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 states that “Rejoice ALWAYS. Pray WITHOUT ceasing. In EVERYTHING give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for YOU.” To God be the glory :)