Bible
Study: Sirach 35, 12 to 18. 2nd Timothy 4, 6 to 18 and Luke 18, 9 to
14.
What is
your opinion about prayer? Do you see it as ‘work’, ‘disturbance’, ‘exercise’, ‘habit’
or just one of those things like the icing on the cake after the day’s more
important activities? How much do you value the time you spend in praying?
Honestly, there are many of us Christians who despite our religiosity consider
time spent in prayer as wasted. Why do you think you are wasting the time you
spend praying?
Of course,
you will be quick to disagree with me and say you don’t think so about prayer.
But, I bet to challenge you. I can prove it to you that you feel you waste the
time you spend praying. How? Why is it that when something important comes up,
you either shorten the time you had allotted to prayer or you totally skip it? Even
self, how many of us have a time-table of daily activities that includes
prayer? Why is it that the last time you really prayed was when you were going
through a hard time or when some catastrophe broke out? You see, we do not pray
as much as we eat food or drink water because we do not know that prayer is
life.
Yes,
Prayer is life. The more time you spend praying, the more powerful you are and
the more life itself becomes worth it. A prayer-less Christian is a powerless Christian,
he is like a person who does not eat or drink water. You dare not ask a person
who has not eaten for 50days to challenge a heavy weight champion in boxing
except you are asking for death. In the same way, a Christian who does not pray
cannot challenge the devil and his agents in the daily battle of life.
Just as
Moses stood in prayer thereby securing the victory in battle against the Amalekites,
we children of God today must never, never, never drop our hands when it comes
to prayer. The story of the Israelite defeat over the Amalekites which we hear
in our first reading has been told for thousands of years now just to prove to
us that prayer is not something we should ever toil with. This story has been
told to make us have a different attitude to prayer; to make us see prayer as
something that is just as essential as the air we breathe; to make us develop a
love for prayer and to pray continuously.
Whenever Moses
dropped his hands, the Israelites were been defeated. That is to say, the
minute we stop praying, we are just like people holding their breath under
water. We cannot survive for very long. When we look at the life of Jesus
Christ on earth, we cannot but see the truth in the saying that prayer is life.
Sing: Prayer is the key! Prayer is the key! Jesus started with Prayer and ended
with Prayer. Prayer is the Master key.
From very
early in the morning, Jesus would go to a very quiet place all by himself to
pray. Before every miracle he worked, he prayed. At the end of each day’s activity,
he would again withdraw to a quiet place and at times, spend the whole night
alone prayer. (Note that Jesus did not use loudspeakers disturbing those who
want to sleep). At every stage of his teaching, he was found praying to the
extent that his disciples had to ask him to teach them how to pray and he
taught them the “Our Father.” Matthew 6, 9 to 13.
At other
times, Jesus taught us about prayer; how we are to pray in the privacy of our
rooms – prayer is not something we use to show off our holiness (Matthew 6, 6);
how we are not to use to many empty phrases in praying like the Hypocrites do –
when we pray, we should behave as if God is deaf by shouting or saying things
we don’t even understand. (Matthew 6, 7). Last Sunday, Jesus indirectly taught
us to add thanksgiving whenever we pray. Recall the healing of the ten lepers? When
only one came back to return thanks? Jesus was in a way teaching us the
importance of giving thanks as part of prayer.
Today,
Jesus is directly teaching us about prayer again. This time around, he stresses
on the importance of PERSEVERANCE in prayer. The story of the woman demanding
justice from the unjust judge not only highlights the fact that Judges can be
corrupt as we have been made to understand with recent events here in Nigeria
whereby some judges are not resting in detention, the story goes to show that
persistence can and will always work in our favour.
It is not
as if God is unjust or that he deliberately decides to withhold good things we
ask for, No! God does not collect bribe from anyone. What Jesus is saying is that
EVEN IF, mark my words, EVEN IF God did not plan to answer you or grant what
you need, just because you keep asking continuously, one day, one day, God will
change his mind and grant you what you are asking for. Yes, God can change his
mind. Yes, God changed his mind when Moses interceded on behalf of the entire
nation of Israel when they sinned by making the golden calf. God had planned to
destroy them but Moses prayed and God changed his mind.
This woman
wouldn’t have gotten justice from a judge who collects bribe, since she didn’t have
the money as a poor widow but her persistence got her what she wanted. Jesus is
saying that our persistence in prayer is a key to getting what we want from
God.
Prayer is
life. Pray always. Pray not just because you need something but because you
need to talk to a God who so much loves you and deserves your time and
attention. Prayer is a relationship. The rewards of prayer are not the things
we are asking for, the real rewards or benefits we derive from prayer is that
it lifts our minds and hearts out of this world. The time we spend in prayer is
like time we spend in heaven, it is like each time we pray and pray well, we
take a trip away from our worries and problems, we take a trip to the presence of
God and his angels, we take a trip to a world where all things are possible and
we become more relaxed, more energized, more hopeful and nourished. We even
reach better decisions and we then act with superior wisdom.
Dear friends,
let us begin to develop a love for prayer. Prayer is not something anyone should
force you to do. No no no. No one forces you to drink water, you look for water
once you are thirsty. In the same way, each time you feel worried, each time
you are troubled in spirit, your soul is thirsting for water and that water is prayer.
That water is the life of your soul. The less you pray, the more confused and
troubled you are, the more you make mistakes in life and the more the enemy
takes an upper hand over you. Payer is life. Never stop praying.
Our responsorial
psalm today says: “our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” This
means, without God’s help, we are actually helpless creatures struggling to
survive in a harsh world. And how do we get this help? Through Prayer. Dear
friends, Prayer is life. Not to pray is to gradually commit suicide. It is like
going out to war with bare hands without a single weapon.
Time spent
praying is never wasted time, it is precious time; it is holy time. Let everything
else wait, allocate time to pray and actually pray. Don’t use prayer time to
think, plan and calculate other things while you are talking to God at the same
time, that’s disrespectful. When you pray, engage both your mind, your heart
and your entire being. Pray as if everything depends on prayer and you will be
truly praying.
Finally, when
we talk about prayer, it must be borne in mind that reading of the Bible is
part of prayer. This is why St. Paul in encouraging us in our first reading
today not to joke with the Bible or begin to argue about the Bible. He says: “All
Scripture is inspired by God and profitable … that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work.” 2nd Timothy 3, 16. Prayer is
life. Reading of scripture is part of prayer. And without scripture, we are not
complete human beings.
If today,
you hear these words, harden not your hearts. Prayer is life.
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, you have taught me to love prayer as much as I love to eat, may I never
neglect my prayer ever again. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. Happy
Sunday.
Fr. Abu
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