A Prayerful Life
Praying is like breathing to Christians, some people said. Life stops when we stop breathing, and praying is simply as important to Christians. When Jesus Christ was alive, no matter how busy he was, he valued prayers and prayed frequently in his daily life. He prayed before making decisions, before the dawn, in the wilderness, and every moment. As Christians, we have to build up a consistent prayerful life and we have to be aware of the following few points:
1. Offer the best hours of the day to God
Because communicating with God is of utmost importance, we have to find some personal space getting close with God quietly daily. We may pray at a fixed or unfixed time schedule each day for ten minutes or longer.
2. Sacred places are everywhere
It would be ideal if a person could enter indoors and pray in private. But it is more important to cultivate an inner peace in our busy city so that we could pray while we are commuting on vehicles, walking, or working. God is everywhere, he is always waiting for us to communicate with him.
3. Pray to seek God’s will
We pray not only for our personal needs, more importantly, we pray to listen to God and seek his will. Like what Jesus said at the Gethsemane “yet not what I want but what you want.” The Lord’s Prayer also teaches us that “Thy will be done on earth,
As it is in heaven”. A lot of people experienced a change from praying vocally to praying silently to listen to God’s will.
4. Prayers and embrace the world
Aside from asking for blessings, people also need to give thanks to God, repent their sins, intercede on another’s behalf, and praise the Lord in their prayers. The Lord’s Prayer is a model template for all prayers and the Book of Common Prayer is one of our beautiful and useful tools for prayer. It is also very important to pray sincerely. Deuteronomy (33:25) states that “As your days, so is your strength.” Now is the time to build your prayerful life.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and for ever. Amen.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father. And he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.