Prayer

Thinking of... Bizet's Carmen.

Prayer has been an issue I've been grappling with since the last week of December.

I remember how I thought I could sin and still get away with it, but then... it caught up with me.
Therefore, I can conclude that sin HINDERS our relationship with God. Because along with sin comes along the knowledge that you did it knowingly, the knowledge that you're too filthy to be in His Presence, the guilt of it all, and the confuddlement of how to get back on track.

I remember the Christmas present I got... a blue, hardcover ringed diary. More specifically, a Prayer-&-Answer Journal. In it are passages from the Bible about the aspects, description, importance and the wonderful-ness of prayer. I still can't bear to write in it... it's too pretty.

And the thought of this new year, where sec 3s start preparing for their O-levels. That means countless hours of grovelling through Maths Exercises, Chinese book reviews, Physics formuals, Bio facts, History essays and whatnot. How ever could I manage to squeeze in that little time of prayer with God, that quiet refuge, my sanctuary from the assorted matters of this world?!
I tried doing it in the morning, but time was too short. I tried doing it after all my homework was done to get a peace of mind... but I was too tired and there were too many things. And after it all, a little voice whispers to me, get that peace of mind through prayer; try it. I'm still trying to ascertain what prayer really is.

And then... just last Sunday, there came along Sister Lei Ching [I don't know how to spell her name] to speak to us.
The week before, someone described her: "She might look sweet and demure, but inside, she's a really strong prayer warrior. When she prays, something happens."
And then she came along in a yellow checked dress, yellow hairclips, and a big smile.
She said that "I was told to talk to you about prayer. But at the end of this you might ask, 'but I still don't know how to pray!' Well, what I'm going to do today is just to whet your appetite. You know appetisers? I'm going to give you an appetiser to prayer today, to whet your appetites for prayer."
And she said,
"Did you know God has a need? You might never have thought that He had a need, but He does. He has a need for our fellowship with Him. We were made for fellowship; we were made in His image so that we could fellowship with Him in the garden, in our backyards."
She held up her hand.

The first finger stands for 1 God. One God, a Holy God, so holy. Holy means He cannot stand sin in His Presence. But we have been born again by the blood of Christ, in Christ! Our sins have been washed away, through Jesus. That's why we always pray 'in Jesus' name', because by Jesus, God hears our prayers. Otherwise we have no other way to get through that door, into the room, to God. But we have been given the privelege to talk to God, to talk about God. Not everyone can talk about God as 'our Father, our Friend'. But He has given us this privelege to talk to Him about Everthing.

The second finger stands for 3 types of prayer. They can be found in the whole chapter of Ephesians, the 10th book in the New Testament.
Chapters 1-2 talks about the first type of prayer, authority. In those chapters, Paul writes to the Ephesians (those living in Ephesus), those who have been born again in Christ, about who they really are. In the old days, Ephesus was a place where there was all sorts of idol worship, but the most prevalent was the worship of Diana, and the people there indulged in orgies. Paul writes to them about how 'in Him we have redemption through His blood' [1:7], how God 'made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions' [2:5], and other things. And because of all these, we can pray with the knowledge of who we are in Christ, including intercessory prayer. ("For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." 2:18)
The 2nd type of prayer is about unity. In Chapters 3-5, Paul talks about unity, and he encourages the Ephesians to be united in their faith in Christ.
The 3rd type of prayer is spiritual warfare, in Chapter 6. (v.13 "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.") She talks about how one day, some construction workers came to work on the road in her neighbourhood, in front of her house. There's one worker. He carries a few styrofoam cups, a packet of peanuts, and some candles. Then he takes the cups, pours in the peanuts, sticks the candles in, and places the cup in front of her house. She comes out and says "I'm sorry, but you can't put that in front of my house." "Why not?" asks the worker. "I'm making an offering to my gods, so I won't offend them." But Sister Lei Ching insists that he take them away. "I'm sorry, but I won't allow you to do it, because this ground belongs to my God!" So he goes away muttering under his breath. And that was a good example of standing our ground for the Lord.

The third finger stands for 4 levels of prayer. Referring to Ezekiel 47, she talks about how an angel leads Ezekiel to the place outside the temple, where he stood on the bank of a river.
"3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in-a river that no one could cross. "
So there were the 4 levels of prayer: Ankle, knee, waist and deep-enough-to-swim-in deep. When we are praying, we should not be satisfied to just get our feet wet- we should get swimming! Because then we could be consumed by the river of living water which Jesus provides.

The fourth finger stands for 7 heart conditions. She refers to Revelations 2-3. It's quite long, so I'll summarise it.
Basically, Jesus reveals to John about what is going to happen. He tells John to write several letters.
The first letter was to the church in Ephesus. They had persevered, but they also had forsaken their first love, God. So Jesus told them to 'repent, and do the things you did at first.'
The second letter was to the church in Smyrna. He knows their afflictions, and tells them to continue to be faithful, and overcome the upcoming challenges, to endure.
The third letter was to the church in Pergamum, where Satan had his throne. They remained true to Christ, but they held to the other teachings, and was involved in idol worship. He tells them to repent.
The fourth letter was to the church in Thyatira. He recognised their efforts, but they tolerated Jezebel, a 'prophetess' who misled people into sexual immorality. He tells them to hold on to what they have, those who did not hold to those other teachings.
The fifth letter was to the church in Sardis. They had a reputation of being alive, but they were dead spiritually, so he tells them to wake up and repent, and strengthen what was about to die.
The sixth letter was to the church in Philadelphia. They have little strength, yet have kept his command to endure patiently and not denied His name. He encourages them to hold on to what they have.
The seventh was to the church in Laodicea. They were lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, so he was going to 'spit them out of his mouth'. He counsels them to be earnest and repent.

The fifth finger stands for the 12 keys to the kingdom or prayer, I'm not sure. We didn't have any more time left, but she did mention the prayer. It's in Matthew 6.
9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
('for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.')

And then she ended her speech.

And she also mentioned that the Holy Spirit leads us into prayer. The Spirit also guides us with what to say.
Romans 8:26 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

And after that, I just felt so glad, thankful, refreshed.

Prayer for me was a hard struggle, because I didn't know what to pray about, I wasn't in the mood to, and just general discomfort at sitting there, reading, and waiting.
Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
I've discovered that hey, when I really get into prayer, I feel renewed, refreshed, and relaxed... much more than when I surf the net to destress, or read a book. It's that time of quiet when you thank the Lord for everything He's done for you, confess your sins, ask Him for the strength to overcome temptations or just make your way through the day, and focus on the Awe of Him, how He created every living thing and the universe.
[ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.]
Just sitting there, letting the Spirit take you into prayer, and surrendering everything... that's my idea of relieving stress.