The Most Powerful, Yet Most Underestimated
I simply don’t pray enough.
Spiritually speaking, that’s blasphemy.
Prayer; the primary form of communicating to The Almighty, and I fail to do it on a consistent enough and sincere enough basis.
I was taught to pray in the morning. I was taught to pray before I go to bed. I was taught to pray before a meal. As of this last semester in my ENCM small group, I was taught to refer to God in EVERYTHING that I do to ensure that I am always “seeking his kingdom”.
And sure enough, I fall short. Everyday. Every hour.
And I want to do better. Like everyone else. I got issues. Nothing to write a Lifetime Movie about, but I still got my share of obstacles.
One of my most favorite hymnals to hear in church is What a Friend We Have in Jesus. It begins:
“What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!”
Those words may not move you like they move me, but when I was little, I merely appreciated the tune and how it excited my church’s congregation. I’ve grown to really appreciate and admire the verses. I’ve found a moving version on YouTube similar to the spirit in which my own church sang it.
Listening to that song, or even just reading the verses…it’s almost a little embarrassing when I think about it of how I disregard such a powerful tool.
Problem is…I try to handle all my obstacles/concerns by myself. Most of the issues that I got going on ’seem within my reach.’ And I feel like I can do it myself. But as we’ve all learned (many times over), the simplest problems can be the hardest to solve. And for me, my pride encourages me to try to overcome these obstacles on my own. And it’s been through his grace alone that I’ve accomplished certain tasks, despite my disregarding of consulting him.
We live in a culture of action. Faith and prayer don’t get enough credit. Like the superheroes, I would hop into action, bearing the weight of my worries and keeping God in my back pocket.
How often do I really address God first when there’s a problem?
Allow me to briefly digress: It would be better if prayer was more mainstream. No movie/tv character consults God first, if at all. We see those characters take on those problems and [of course] they solve them all by themselves and get all the credit, with no glory is given to God.
The verse of the song, “oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer” really rings out to me.
That’s the ‘closet fantasy‘ that I need to get over: that I can do it all by myself. However, depending on myself [without consulting God] just leads to more pain, more time wasted, more missed opportunities.
Prayer is so underestimated.
[flashback music] When I little, I was thought by my mother to say my prayers every night.
“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
Afterwards, I would usually say, “God Bless Mama, God Bless Daddy, God Bless Rena, God Bless Grandmother, etc.” By the end of my prayer, I would go though my whole family [It's interesting the discipline I use to have with prayer when I was little].
It took me a long time to get in touch with the act of praying. Praying was an enigma, because I didn’t know if God was responding or I was talking to myself. It took me a while to get in touch in God. For those of you who are not in touch with God or prayer, I tell you that it takes sincerity and a constant pursuit. Don’t expect clouds to open up and for God to speak in a ‘James Earl Jones’-like voice. You go to him, and I assure you he’ll ‘respond”.
That “needless pain” has and will continue to take a toll on me and anyone else who doesn’t consult him first. For the battle is not yours.
Justin, this is probably the best entry I’ve heard from you to date, and that’s saying something because EVERYTHING you write brings truth to the table lol. Back on topic…
I feel you wholeheartedly. Remember that one time CJ gave spiritual development in SAAB and he said, “God never gives us more than we can bear… but sometimes WE give us more than we can bear”? I think about that pretty often, especially recently. It’s part of the reason why I’m not sure whether or not I want to undergo this ‘pursuance’ of mine, but that’s another story. Nonetheless, you’re right on target – the only time we EVER see ‘mainstream hero images’ do any type of consulting God or praying was on that show ‘Touched by an Angel’ which never really catered to males, anyway, so we were deprived of that image. So many times, I feel like I pray and ask for God’s help or to provide me with a solution and, I admit, sometimes I feel a need to spring into action because the clock is ticking and (to me) God “isn’t working fast enough.” I’m still trying to teach myself that God’s answers aren’t always the ones I want them to be, and that God will provide a means when He wants me to accomplish something.
As for prayer diligence as a child… I think it was different then because children are innocent. God allows to be pure in heart even though we’re mischievous and bad lol. But at the same time, back then, as children, we didn’t really understand prayer. It was just the routine, it was something you taught yourself to do, but you GENUINELY believed God WAS going to bless Mama, Momo and Pawpaw, the baby sisters… these days, we’re adults. We’ve been let down, we’ve been introduced to more strife and challenges. We don’t pray, because we don’t get the victories we want as often as we did as children. But like you said, The Battle Was Never Ours. I wish you all the best in your spiritual journey, man…
J Dot Howard said this on July 29, 2008 at 2:20 am |