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PRAYER

This is from my brother, Fr. Douglas Kimemia.
In this life we face big problems, stress, worries, and burdens, which always attempt to swallow or overtake us. In some cases, we feel like we are in a tight corner, walled or between a rock and a hard place. We feel overwhelmed and uncertain of the next minute or tomorrow. Simply, we don’t know what to do or where to turn to. In such a situation, Jesus is telling us to ask for His help for He is standing by.
Jesus talking to His disciples reminds them that those who ask for help will receive it, those who seek Him will find Him and those who knock the door it shall be opened for them. Help is only a knock away or a word away.
For anyone skeptical of power of prayers, I want to remind us that God is still answering prayers. I know with everything happening in us and around us, it may seem like God is offline or asleep. But the truth is that God is waiting on us to call on Him. Prayer still remains a powerful and secret tool, which is capable of winning all battles.
The issue today is that we are not asking at all unless everything else has failed. We treat prayer as a last resort. We are designing our ways to deal with life and conflicts in our best way, which has nothing to do with God’s will. And when we seek God, our motives are skewed, and our passion misdirected.
We are living in a generation that seeks God only when it is convenient but when it seems otherwise; we have nothing to do with God. We have accepted to settle for the status quo. If we settle with what we have already experienced, we cannot grow. We spend more time complaining about God than seeking Him in prayer. We spend time on arguing on what God is not doing instead of asking Him what to do for us. We complain of prayers not working when we are not praying in the first place.
Prayer is simply saying to God, "I recognize my weakness. I recognize that if anything significant is to happen, it will happen, because I’ve counted on You. You made it to happen." I don’t have it together and I need Your help. I submit all to Your authority. I am accepting Your authority in my life as I depend on You."
Prayer gives us the necessary resources to be fully transformed people. Through prayer we are molded into Christ-like, we are changed. We are provided with the tools needed to accomplish the mission. Through prayers impossible situations are changed to possible ones. Prayer works on our negative, doubting, critical, and pathetic sinful attitudes and behaviors. It transforms such harmful attitudes and behaviors into a rejoicing state. Through prayers we open a door for God to change us and uplift us.
When we pray, we receive benefits. Through prayer we are connected with heaven. God has made Himself available for us. When we knock the door and it is opened, we find Him behind it. He is waiting for us to knock it. David says that “O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory... Your love is better than life..." (Psalm 63:1-3). Amen

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