About Christianity

all christians know that prayer is a very important part of our relationship with God. and if we were to ask why we had to pray, sometimes the answer given to us is that because Jesus prayed. and if He prayed, we lowly humans have to pray too.

or maybe, it is the process by which we submit our requests to God in a more 'formal' way. or maybe it is the way we communicate to God. anyway, for this post, i will try to answer the question to the best of my ability. of course, the information from this post is a mixture of what i think as well as what my pastor said.

let's say you are a mother of a child. and you see your child struggling to do a math homework, while you are beside her. generally what is our usual reaction? we let the kid try first. and the child will continue to work and solve the seemingly difficult math problem. even when we know that the kid cannot solve the problem on her own, we usually let her try until... until she opened her mouth and asked for help.

it is the same with God. God knows everything. He knows we cannot solve certain problems on our own. He knows we need help. yet why did He not help us? because we did not ask Him. does that mean He doesn't love us? no, because as we can see, the mother who let the kid try first loves her child too.

people always ask, 'why pray when God knows everything?'

we have to know that we do not pray to inform God of our requests. He already knows it, long time ago. we pray to ask for His help. the mother knew the child had difficulty in her math, but she did not help, even though she is more than willing to do it. the same for God, provided we pray according to His will. sometimes, we tell our kids to try a bit longer, and maybe when she really could not do it, we will then help her. maybe, that is the reason why our prayers took some time to be answered. because God wants us to try a bit longer, so that we can have more experience, so that we can grow stronger in the process.

and that is one reason why God doesn't want mechincal and repetitive prayers. because He already knows what we want and need. it is ok to keep asking something over and over again, but not ok when it turned mechanical when we only utter words with our mouth and lose all sincerity.

second thing, we pray to express our dependence on God. that is obvious, right? but maybe, sometimes we forgot that. we pray to God because God is the only one who can help us. it is also a sign that we are unable to survive on our own, that we need God's help. our persistent prayers shows our faith to Him. just like the widow in the Gospel who kept pleading with the godless judge, who finally answered her request, how much more, then is the righteous God willing to hear our prayers?

our persistent prayers (with sincerity and not mechanical praying) shows to God that we believe in Him. because i guess if we have other ways we would have already taken that way and solve our problems as quickly as possible. but the thing is that there is no other way, that's why we have to depend on God. we show our trust to Him, that we are still asking Him because He hears us and knows what to do. maybe it will take 1 month, 1 year, 10 years, a lifetime for Him to answer our request. but it doesn't mean He didn't hear it.

maybe through our consistent prayers we can grow more. as we pray more, we learn more about God as we communicate with Him. as we pray more we can strengthen our faith. prayer, like i said in one of my previous post, is a channel which allows you to communicate with the King of kings. even for human kings, we are not granted audience that easily.

but through prayer, we are granted audience anytime, anywhere we want. it is a privilege which many people do not know of, a privilege which many people, including me, take for granted. and sometims, i think we abuse this privilege. we treat God like our genie sometimes, we treat God as a last resort. should it be that way?

of course, it is all right to present your request to God when you pray. but at the same time, i don't think you only pray when you have problems. we give thanks when times are good. why? obviously because He gave us our good lives. also because by giving thanks, we are counting our blessings and we know how blessed we really are. compare your lives to an iraqi kid, to a sudan woman, to a conscript in a war, and you know how much more you have compared to others. comapre your experience with an orphan, with a rape victim, with a kid who has abusive parents, and you know most of us are living a life which they would gladly trade with, adding 10 times more the 'sufferings' we are going through. heh, i said this exact same thing in one of my post.

of course, this is not to say all of you who are reading this is not one of those i described above. maybe, you really live in an abusive home. maybe, you really is a rape victim or maybe you are an orphan. i don't know how this feels, because i am not one. but, God knows. that's why i think, despite your experiences, you can still pray. that's why, even though your life tells you not to believe in God, you can and must still pray. because God is the only one who can help you. He is the only one who can send someone to help you. and if you need a reason to pray, that is the reason for you now. at least, this is the only reason i can think of for your situation.

lastly, why do we pray? because He is God and we are not. God can give us strength so that we can go on in our lives. you know, life is hard sometimes. even though we are living in a normal, blissful, peaceful and prosperous society, sometimes, life is hard. we cannot compare our sufferings with those in war-torn countries, but we know that to us, our difficulties are still too much.

Jesus prayed so that He can be given enough strength to go on. and if He prayed, how much more do we need to pray? i see more and more people committing suicide on the news. they say suicide cannot solve anything. but to be honest, i think suicide can solve everything, for the person. just that sometimes it creates a little trouble, and most of the time sadness for those who care for you. but you know, your life is given to you. i can say this because i am living a, well i think, happy life.

we only live life here once. so treasure it, as much as you can. maybe you are sick and you want to die. then before you die, why not pray and ask God what He plans for you? maybe you cannot take it anymore, then why not ask God for help? why not ask Him for strength and courage? since if you want to attempt suicide, which is the end of everything, why not, before you cut off everything, hold on and try one more time, one more road which leads to God? i mean, if you really want to die, then trying to look for God does no harm, right? and although i shouldn't be saying this, you can actually still choose to die if after you seek for God, you still think you want to die. so just before suicide, hold on to that last hope, which i am sure God will give you. no harm trying.

it is ok to feel burdened. every human feels that. in fact i would want to go back to my teenage years where for a little problem i wear a face of great tragedy on my face. how i miss the days.... hahahaha. (i think i said this before. haix i am always repeating myself.)

we cannot survive on our own, even with the help of other humans. we are humans, and He is God. so, pray. if one day you cannot find anymore reason to pray, when you have lost all faith in God, as i personally know people like that, then i hope, that you will remember this post, and find your way back.

and in the meantime, i will pray for all the people to turn to God. and i hope all who read this will pray for others as well. because somewhere on this earth, i think, there is another person praying for you. (ahhhh i repeated this paragraph again. plagarism of my own work!)