About Christianity

it had been a long time since anyone blogged here. the random section had been updated now and then, but it seems that over here it is an abandoned section. hahax. anyway, i am back.

just yesterday evening, i saw a person. well we see people everyday, just that this particular person i met, all of a sudden, she reminded me of the things and the people who are important to me (at least at one point of time in my life).

well, i set my personal passwords such that they remind me of the important things to me. so that when i key in my passwords everyday, or a few times each day, i am reminded of these important things that i do not want to forget.

yet her appearance in front of me, she reminded me once again of these important things which i am supposed to remember, yet did not do so.

you see, for the first few days, keying in the passwords reminded me of these very things which i do not want to forget. yet, like praying to God, after the first few times, it became routine and mechanical. i key in the complicated passwords easily and smoothly, my hands knowing which key to hit without me even trying to recall what it was.

and then, this password which is supposed to serve as a reminder lost its function. and this continued.

and like i said, yesterday after meeting this particular person which you definitely do not know, i am reminded of once again, what i have to treasure.

what do i want to say?

you see, what are the important things in your relationship with others, and ultimately to God? prayer, it is one of the most important thing that connects us to God. through it, we are granted audience to the most powerful God and King in all creation. through it, we communicate and improve our relationship with God. through it, we give thanks, and we beg for mercy, and we ask for help.

but prayers, we do it everyday, a few times each day sometimes, and like the way i key in my password, sometimes it becomes mechnical. i know a post like this was made sometime ago, but this is a little different. day after day we pray, and along the way, do we forget the importance and its relevance?

like, to enter msn, i key in my password. to enter my work station, i input my password. to access my bank account, i type in the password. to ask for help, i pray to God. to beg for mercy, i pray to God. to give thanks, i pray to God. but, have you forgotten what is the importance of prayer?

i mean, do we say thanks, beg for mercy, ask for help and then end it just like that? you are sincere about your request, your plead for mercy and your thanksgiving. you are not mechanical. yes, i believe that too. but, what is the actual meaning of the prayer? do you remember the importance, and what it really means? do you know you are talking to the most powerful King? do you understand the gravity of what you are doing? do you appreciate this chance that you have to talk to God? for some reason, maybe because i have not blogged for too long, my english and my expression gets a little stiff. but i hope you get what i mean.

this is the password. to gain access, i key in the password. but, what is the meaning of the password? to remind me of the important things i have. do you know what is the actual meaning of prayer?

not only prayer. prayer is only one example. the things you do everyday. has it become such a routine that you forgot what is the original purpose and function of this very thing you do? not only in your relationship with God, but your daily life, your bond with others, your dream, your work... everything.

what is important to you? doing it day after day, don't forget it. remember what is important and precious to you.

i am grateful to God, that i met her yesterday. because of her, i remembered something which i come in contact with everyday, yet forgot its meaning and importance.

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ok, i am sorry that you have to bear through such horrible english, with repetitive words and the lousy description and expression, as well as explanation. as you can see, it is a far cry from the previous posts. well i hope i can get back to track soon. haix.

in the past, commoners don't get to see the king whenever they want. we can always see on drama (chinese dramas especially) that sometimes people risk their life to get an audience with the king. seeing the king may sometimes involve risking their lives. people work and die for the king, yet they do not see the king.

queen esther in the Bible also risked her own life to see the king. when people risk their lives to see the king, it meant that a certain matter or situation had gone out of hand and that even if they die, they had to see the king. that was how difficult it was to see the king, how important the meaning attached to it.

for us christians, we are granted unlimited audience to the King too. not just the king of our country, but the King of all creation. to see a human king, one had to get through many troubles and levels of security. to see a human king sometimes means it is the honor of a commoner. for us, if we compare ourselves to the great God who created everything, we are less than a commoner.

we are a human in planet earth, which is in solar system, in the milky way, in a cluster of galaxies i don't know call what, in the universe, in the world which is part of all creation. we are less than a commoner. however, we are granted access to the great King with no strings attached. we don't need to risk our lives. we can always talk to Him whenever we felt like it. in fact He loves if we speak to Him. we can depend on our King when we have troubles... which other human kings do that?

and to have an audience with the king, all we need to do is to get down on our knees and pray. i don't know about you, but it seemed that people don't get on their knees when they pray. for me i do. well it depends on personal preference though. so to pray is easy. we can do it everyday, anytime, be it morning or day, anywhere, be it in the forest or out in the sea. we can pray together or alone. He will listen to us. how wonderful is that.

but the problem is, because this access had been given to us, we tend to take it for granted. what is a privilege will become a right after a long time. what had become a right will not be treasured. like how you might not treasure the freedom to vote. like how you might not treasure the freedom to get married to the person you like. because it is our right. we don't think too much of it. sometimes we even make a mockery out of it.

i admit, for me sometimes i don't pray properly. i did fell asleep while praying before. i got into repetitive and mechanical praying. if i am the king and my subject slept while talking to me, or that he keeps repeating the same thing over and over again as a routine, maybe i will just chop off his head. or will i?

praying for the same thing over and over again is not wrong, for the Bible encourage us so. but to keep on saying without understanding the meaning, only repeating the words, that is wrong. i mean you would have experienced that too right? after praying for a certain thing for a period of time, we tend to forget the meaning and get mechanical, like a machine programmed to repeat the same words every night before we go to sleep. that is wrong. that is insincere. maybe i have no right to say it, for i am like that too.

what i want to say is, prayer is an access and honor given to us. with it, we can ask for help. with it, we can communicate with the King of all creation. not the king of the nation, not the king of the world, not the king of universe. but the King of everything. this is a short post. so, if today you read this, maybe you would want to give prayer the reverence you should give. for prayer is like talking to God. and when we talk to the King, it is important that we give our proper respects. am i not right?

everyday a christian should go to God in prayer, not only because we have things we need His help, but also because it is essential as a form of communication to improve and maintain our relationship. just like couples talk on the phone each night, we also have to pray each night.

the problem is, many of us at the end of the day gets too tired to pray. the prayer even though is just maybe 5-10 minutes, is sometimes taxing after a whole day of work (or play). and when we pray, we might sometimes be distracted and think of other things, or we might end up falling asleep for a little while. it certainly is not respectful to do that. we don't daydream or fall asleep when we are talking to friends, but we do that during prayers.

then one day i found a way to actually overcome this problem, that's why i am sharing all this with you. well, not actually i thought of it, i read it somewhere. instead of having to pray everything all in one shot at night and risk not concentrating, why not you split your prayers into a few parts? say 5 parts? then throughout the day you can say each little part of your prayer. for example, while you are waiting for a bus, you can say a little prayer thanking God for what He has done. or maybe when you are taking a little break from your work, you can say a little prayer request that you need help with. do this throughout the day, each time saying a little something. i'm pretty sure that you can maintain that 1 minute or less of concentration, right?

there is also another advantage of it, is that as we say our prayers throughout the day, we have God in our mind throughout the day, and that helps you know. keep thinking about Him and talking to Him now and then every single day improves your relationship with Him, and slowly you find yourself getting closer to Him. to those who have trouble concentrating, why not try this method? for every hour spend 1 minute in prayer isn't that hard, am i not right?