Quote: (10-07-2018 11:48 AM)debeguiled Wrote:
For someone who doesn't believe in God, the first prayers are to find out if he exists.
For someone who believes he exists, the next prayers are to find out if he is good.
For someone who believes he exists and believes he is good, prayer is to find out which God to believe in.
For someone who knows which God to believe in, prayer is to find a calling in life.
For someone who hasn't found a calling in life, prayer is to keep asking for one.
For someone who has found a calling in life, prayer is to complain about how hard your calling is.
For someone who has done all this, prayer is to ask for guidance, healing for other people. healing for yourself, understanding, favors, express hopes and dreams, or to just sit quietly and wait to see what God has to say to you.
Sometimes these prayers are answered in ways that could be coincidence, sometimes in ways that cannot, sometimes they are answered merely by letting you pour out the contents of your heart so you can come to a new understanding by yourself.
All of the prayers you make for other people are especially powerful, whether you see results or not, because they keep the troubles and needs of someone other than yourself in your mind throughout the day.
It is obvious as well that all of this, even when it doesn't yield tangible fruit, is in fact the deepest kind of therapy possible, because God isn't like a human therapist in that he knows exactly what you need exactly when you need it. Knowing as you go through your day that you are going to pray at some point keeps your deepest feelings, fears, insecurities, pains, hopes for the future, all in your mind to receive conscious attention, so they don't get swept under the rug and ignored, like the women in your life want them to be.
This increases your spiritual and emotional strength to complement your will and your physical stamina. It can lead to a peace and joy even in the midst of chaos that cannot be attained in any other way.
It isn't an easy path though, because often the things that God knows you need are the exact opposite of what you want, and they make it hard to believe that he is a good God.
That's okay though, because he can handle complaint and even abuse.
Better him than your dog.
This is amazing. May I steal this?
G