Prayer I - Barrier and Invitation ...

Monday, September 5, 2011. Have you ever prayed? Did you pray to God? Or have you never prayed or not prayed for many years now? Some people have prayed when they were kids, but lost prayer long ago …

The Barrier …

There can be a barrier between us and prayer. I know this barrier quite well. I know even several barriers which can be between me and God or between me and prayer. Barriers keep me from praying. They keep me from getting into closer contact with God. I am here, God is there and between uns there is something, it seems impenetrable.

One barrier can be the idea that prayer is somehow ridiculous and does not fit into our modern time. Who prays? Do modern people pray? When you are surrounded by young or older scientists who consider God to be an old illusion of mankind … how could you justify prayer before them, if for whatever reason they would observe or realize that you pray. That can keep you from prayer …!

When you do not know if God really exists, how can you talk to him? Do you talk into the thin air? Is it just an illusion to talk to God? These thoughts can be a real inner barrier. For years or for my whole life they can keep me from praying …!

Invitation to Pray …

But there is the invitation to cross the barrier. There is the invitation to search for the unknown God. There is the invitation to talk to him and challenge him: God, if you exist, I want to get to know you! Everyone can say this sentence … it is a fair prayer which even atheists can pray. God, if you are there, if you hear me, then answer!

I once prayed this prayer: God, I want to get to know you. I know exactly where I prayed it. It was in some lift, I was alone there going from the first to the third floor. I prayed it and I meant it. I somehow wanted to get to know God, but I had no idea how this could work. But I said that prayer and somehow it was the beginning of a fantastic story!

Soon after that day, I got to know a Christian house group. It did not fit my needs to ask basic questions about faith. But I got to know another house group very soon thereafter, completely disconnected to the first group. That was a better fit, and I got to know many Christians and churches in the time thereafter - and more than that, I met the Lord in and through all of them. Suddenly, God was there, in the middle of my life. There is an invitation to pray, but be careful: it could be answered! ... more texts