Reason 3 - Weak Prayer Life

This is a very good reason, I think, not to go to prayer meetings. I actually wished I thought of this one myself, but alas, I cannot take the credit. Wouldn’t it be hypocritical of me that I don’t pray at all in my personal life (or rarely) and yet go pray in a prayer meeting? If I can’t even find the time to spend 5 minutes out of my busy life to pray to God, in the privacy of my own head, how can I justify quitting work on time, driving to Church or someone’s place, and then spend a full 2 hours praying to God? Doesn’t that seem wrong to you?

I know tons of strong Christians who don’t have healthy prayer lives. What is a healthy prayer life? I’m not the official answerer of that question. According to the Bible, Daniel prays like a million times a day (ok it’s 3). Daniel is a pretty good guy, so I figure that number of times should be a healthy prayer life. But it doesn’t say how long he prays during those times, which I would imagine is a long time. So, if you were thinking that praying before each meal (there are at least 3) means a healthy prayer life, ehh, I don’t think that counts. Especially when as a lot of people do, they pray before a meal like this: “God please bless this meal.” It’d be like saying, “I talk to my wife every day!” Saying “Good Morning” and “Good bye” with some occasional “I love you” doesn’t count as exactly a healthy communication, now does it?

Also a lot of Christians kinda fall in this prayer cycle rut. When disaster hits, then they pray like mad. They’re on their knees day and night, crying out to God. They start reading the Bible again, with an emphasis on passages dealing with that particular problem. They fast and meditate. But when the crisis is over, well, back to ignoring God. “Until next time, God! And thanks for everything!” I have to say, I was like that. When I was a kid, I didn’t really think about God. In the morning, I’m still half-asleep when mom wakes me up for school. And then during school time, I’m busy learning or playing. After school, there’s TV and oh yeah, some homework. Night there’s TV again and then it’s off to sleep. But, on those well, not-so-rare days, when I’m in bed, I suddenly remember! “I have a test tomorrow! And I didn’t study at all!” Then, since it’s too late to study, I do the next best thing. I start praying. Like mad. I mean, tears are shed, bargains are made. “I promise to be ultra good for whole next week, if you give me an A on this test!” And I mean, really pray. I would fall asleep praying as if the more I repeat it, the more God will listen to my prayer and grant it. Yeah, well, it didn’t work all the time.

Nowadays, I’m better. I guess I’m more disciplined. I would often pray in the car on the way to work. Before going to bed (if I’m not too tired), I’ll pray about the day’s sins that I committed, and ask for forgiveness. It seems so ritualized, but, well, God can judge my sincerity. And if I have no crisis to pray about, I thank him, for all the blessings, including the blessing of no crisis :)

Some other tricks I’ve learned is that in prayer you don’t have to actually “converse” with God, as if you are talking to other people. If that were the case, all my prayers would last 5 minutes long because a) it’s one-sided conversations and b) I don’t babble much anyway. However, I have learned that meditating on God also counts as part of a healthy relationship with God. By meditating I don’t mean shaving your head, crossing your feet lotus style until they become numb and saying “Ohm” over and over again. To me meditate means just to keep God in my thoughts. Maybe a verse is running through my head over and over again, with some musical accompaniment (ie a Christian song is replaying in my head ad nauseum). Sometimes I just make up little “sermons” in my head that I would run through. Now with this blog thing, I often think or dwell on what to write next. If you interject God in your daily life, your relationship with Him will grow. And then, you can finally go to a prayer meeting!