Prayer

If you want to find Christ and hold him forever in your heart, you must step beyond cold hard analysis and enter the world of prayer. Christians believe that Jesus gave himself completely, without reservation, and took the time to suffer and die on the cross for us. If you don’t believe or are uncertain, maybe you should take some time to see whether the Christian message for 2,000 years can be true. The stakes are pretty high. A crucial part of any search for God is to humble ourselves and try to speak with him, and prayer is our way of communicating with God. Even though God already knows what we need, he wants us to stay in touch and rely upon him.

Prayer and the unbeliever

You may ask what’s the point in praying to God when we’re not even sure he exists? The answer is that God will reveal himself to those who are seeking him in humility and a child-like demeanor. Proof? When we examine those events where provable claims are made of Mary’s appearances such as Fatima, to whom does she appear? It’s always children or the unlearned.

If your approach is to rely upon your own intellect and resources, you will never be filled with belief. Any faith that emerges will be shallow and tenuous. You must be willing to believe and turn everything over to God. This may require a sustained effort on your part. If it would be helpful, consider repeating and dwelling upon the evening prayer of St Francis, “Who are you my God, and who am I?”

God will answer you. He wants our prayers, even in times of spiritual dryness or distraction, and even when we harbor a deep disbelief. Maybe we don’t know what to say when we pray; maybe we feel hopelessly inadequate; or maybe we just may feel plain foolish praying to God when we’re not sure he listens, or even exists. You may be sure that God has foreseen all these circumstances and he knows your situation. He’s not looking for eloquence; he’s looking for love, humility, and commitment.

St. Augustine and his mother might be able to provide some help.

St. Augustine – our model for disbelief

St. Augustine is a great example of someone who initially rejected the gift of prayer, but eventually accepted. Prayer transformed his life. For his first 30 or so years, St. Augustine ignored and rejected prayer. God was in one place, and he was in another. His life consisted of carousing and illicit sexual relationships. He knew this was wrong but didn’t care. His mother, however, did, and she prayed, prayed, and prayed for his conversion.

Finally, Augustine sought God in earnest. While praying in a garden in Milan, Italy and repenting of his sinful life, he heard a voice say, “Take up and read.” Augustine randomly selected Chapter 13 of Romans: “Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

St. Augustine was baptized in 388 at the age of 34. His mother’s prayers and his own led him to conversion and he became one of the greatest (if not the greatest) Doctor of the Church (that is, someone considered to be of particular importance regarding his contribution to theology or Christian doctrine). This man is synonymous with erudite scholarship and theology, but he found his faith because of prayer.

Drifting from the shore

Everyone experiences periods of spiritual dryness. We might harbor a nagging doubt about the existence of God or his love for us. Perhaps our attention wanders when we pray and our prayers falter. Doubts and inattention may continue for days, weeks, months, or even years. Even Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote how removed she felt from God for much of her life, even when she was most intensely submerged in God’s work. In these times, continue to resort to prayer. There’s no downside. It’s not like eating contaminated herring. God understands – even when our mind wanders. Try, try and try some more. Try always to enter prayer with the intent of drawing closer to God and trusting him.  God always understands our weaknesses. If the Bible teaches nothing else, it’s that he always forgives and strengthens. We just need to ask in faith.

Practice, practice, practice

Perhaps you’ve tried prayer, with absolutely no success. “I keep chopping but the chips aren’t flying.” Here is a simple reminder: If you wish to excel at something you need to work, practice, train, and work some more. You need to spend long hours practicing the piano, studying the law, lifting weights in the gym to achieve your goal. If you aspire to be an NFL linebacker you will need to endure hundreds and thousands of hours practicing and training in the hot summer sun, enjoy Friday night triumphs in high school, suffer defeats, injuries, setbacks and conquer a lot of self-doubts. But you need to put all the negatives aside and work to build on the talents you freely received from God.

Six years as an NFL linebacker makes all the preparatory pain and hard work worth it. A lifetime of playing and revealing to others the mastery and beauty of Mozart or Bach or Liszt makes the thousands of hours of practice and study worthwhile.

We would all like to be gifted with these athletic or artistic talents even though the payout may only last six years as a professional football player or a mere lifetime in the case of the piano virtuoso. Contrast that with the gift of prayer we have all received, regardless of culture, status in life, and religious heritage, and with a payout for all eternity. Unfortunately, it now appears that the vast majority deny the presence of this gift or ignore it.

Simplicity and persistence

Allow me to make a suggestion. When you don’t know how to pray or what to say or how to say it, try reverting to the most basic, shortest, and simplest of prayers, and that is nothing more than repeating the Savior’s name: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus . . .: If you do nothing more than meditate upon his name with gratitude and love, additional guidance will come.

If we keep trying, we’ll get on track. We just need to enter prayer with the intent to pray sincerely and never give up.

We can come to some knowledge about God through observation and reason and we can learn about the life of Jesus and his Messianic mission through reason and study. But we cannot understand the complete story without prayer and asking for help in our belief. When we do, Jesus will abide within us. Our prayer should be to find and increase our faith, understand the will of God and cooperate, “Thy will be done.” His will is for you to believe.

If you’re searching for inspiration and practical advice to for prayer, click on Brother Lawrence: Remaining in the Presence of God. If you think some good old fashioned gospel music might provide inspiration, listen to Did You Think to Pray? or Time Out for Jesus. Don’t give up, even if you have to open your prayer by saying, Jesus it’s me again.

Prayer – Never too late

In 1972, a prayer was published that had been found in the pocket of a dead World War II Soviet soldier, Aleksander Zacepa. He had been rigorously raised as an atheist in this communist regime. He composed this prayer just before the World War II battle in which he would die.

“Hear me, oh God! In my lifetime, I have not spoken with you even once, but today I have the desire to celebrate. Since I was little, they have always told me that you don’t exist. And I, like an idiot, believed it.

“I have never contemplated your works, but tonight I have seen from the crater of a grenade the sky full of stars, and I have been fascinated by their splendor. In that instant I have understood how terrible is the deception.

“I don’t know, oh God, if you will give me your hand, but I say to you that you understand me. Isn’t it strange that in the middle of this frightful hell, light has appeared to me, and I have discovered You?

“I have nothing more to tell you. I am happy, because I have known You. At midnight, we have to attack, but I am not afraid. You see us.

“They have given the signal. I have to go. How good it was to be with You! I want to tell You, and You know, that the battle will be difficult. Perhaps this night, I will go to knock on your door. And even though up to now I haven’t been your friend, If I go, will You allow me to come in?

“But, what’s happening to me? I cry? My God, look at what has happened to me. Only now, I’ve begun to see clearly. Farewell, my God, I am going. It’s scarcely possible that I’ll return. Strange; Death now has no fear for me.”

It’s never too late – as long as you have enough time left.

Some websites and references

Footnotes and Attributions

The photograph and the Soviet soldier’s prayer accessed from Grace Gateways.

Last modified August 10, 2019