There is the story of a man we will call Sam who went to Heaven. St. Peter was showing him around. Sam marveled at the scenery, the beautiful buildings and grounds. Soon they came to a tall building that was very plain, no windows and seemed out of place. Sam curious asked what was in that building. Peter said, you probably don’t want to go in there. Buy Sam persisted and Peter opened the door. Sam was stunned, for there were racks 2 high of white boxes with ribbon around them with a name on each boxthe length of the building. What is in the boxes Sam asked… Peter said the box holds the prayers that were prayed to God and were answered. Sam raced around until he found a box with his name on it. quickly he tore off the ribbon and opened the box…it was empty. :Peter said if you had a prayer life on earth God would have heard you and answered your prayers.
Maybe some of us need to reexamine our prayer life. It all starts with faith-we must have faith that God hears our prayers and will answer them. Of course, God’s answer to our prayers may not be what we expected. But if we have a living prayer life with God, we can be honest with him.
Don’t box God in when you pray. Scripture says “all things are possible with God” If we have the faith that God hears our prayers and that he answers them, we can be bold and ask for anything we need..
A prayer life is a communication between you and God. Don’t be like the Pharisees who went to the street corner at the busy time of the day and prayed out loud so everyone could see how pious they were. Scripture tells us to go into a room and pray to God in secret.–you pray, he hears.
The next question may be what do I say in my prayers? Jesus gave us a good example of the structure of prayer when he taught his disciples the Lords Prayer The pattern for prayer follows this outline.
1-Acknowledge who God is
2-Ask for Kingdom on earch
3-Feed us for today
4-forgive us (as we forgive)
5-keep us from sin
We can then ask for his help and guidance, and for his Grace and power to help those that are in need. This is called intercessory prayer, praying for someone else. Next question may be, when should I pray?
Scripture tells us to”pray without ceasing” I used to spend a lot of time in my car. It was a great time to pray and meditate (safely!) I called it windshield prayers.
If you have a real relationship with God, our prayers and our quiet times of listening to Him will be your guide every hour of the day. God loves you and he wants the best for you. Every day your should say “God what do you want me to do today and please guide me in doing it…amen
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