To Pray is to be present with God
Yesterday I wrote in my blog some words about prayer that I felt would be useful to my readers. Today I want to expand on that because I have realized that some more thoughts might be helpful to those readers who perhaps did not grow up in a praying home, and may not be active churchgoers. The following story illustrates what I mean:
A friend of mine, a military veteran, told me recently he didn't know how to pray. He asked me if I could teach him. When I inquired further he said, "Oh I have heard other people pray, but as for myself I really don't know where to start. Can you teach me?" I explained that praying is talking to God, and he is more interested in what is in your heart than in the exact words you say. He hesitated, so I agreed to write down several well-known prayers that he could use as examples. Explaining once again that true prayer comes from the heart more than from the words, I wrote down three sample prayers. The first one is known as The Lord's Prayer or the Our Father, and is the prayer best known throughout Christianity. It is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples:
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen."
The second prayer I wrote down for my friend is The Peace Prayer, also known as the Prayer of Saint Francis. This prayer is also widely know throughout the world, and is the subject of several hymns:
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life."
The third prayer I wrote down as an example is The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr (in the expanded version from what I wrote yesterday in my blog):
"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen."
Finally, I asked my friend to read these three prayers daily, with the purpose of understanding their meaning and message. I believed when I told him this, as I believe now, that practicing reading and understanding these three prayers every day as I suggested, will soon lead him to pray to the Father from his heart, using his own words. And just now as I am writing this, it is impressed upon my mind that Our Heavenly Father, the Creator of the Universe, will be most pleased if everyone on earth follows the practice I have just suggested. Do this for a minimum of 40 days and nights, and do it for the honor and glory of God, I pray. Amen.
*See all of Gene Allen Groner's 35 published books, plus over 200 short articles on faith, hope, and love at www.amazon.com/Gene-Allen-Groner/e/B077YTVSJZ
