Prayer House ...

Friday, July 26, 2024. When you experiment and explore a life where Christian faith and prayer play important roles, there is much to discover. Prayer is in the very centre of such a life. Prayer is like a world of its own, where many treasures can be found, where much is to be discovered about mankind, about fulfilment, about our desires and the struggle of our life.

There is someone special …

Prayer means talking to God and listening to God. Prayer also means: to be in the presence of God, in a conscious way, sometimes in an unconscious way, but still! Prayer is much more than delivering wishes which God has to satisfy. Prayer is more than a ritual. If it is a ritual only, it fails. It can have ritual elements, which help you to pray. But it does not need to have particular ritual element. There are many ways to pray.

Christian prayer is carried out on the basis of what Jesus is and what Jesus has done. Of course, every human can pray to God - Christian or non-Christian. All can pray. And God will hear every one, that is what the bible communicates. Yet, when you start a life on the basis of Jesus, when you believe in him, his cross, his role, his character, his words, then the holy spirit enters your life and your body, and prayer starts on an even deeper layer of life.

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” (Lk 19, 45ff)

Jesus considers those, who believe in him, as part of his house and part of his body. The New Testament speaks about both images. And his house is a house of prayer - so as Christian you are a house of prayer. It will be the backbone of your life, your arguments and reasoning, your feelings, your decisions.

Listening …

Prayer includes listening to God. It includes listening to concrete questions. That is more than just reading a Chapter of the bible, or reading verses of the bible. It is more, since you enter his presence, you bring your thoughts, your pain, your needs, your desires, your everything. Then, you ask him for his viewpoint. You ask for his thoughts, for his pain, for his ideas and desires. You ask for his everything.

Without time to listen, how could you life with faith? It would be as if you would be married and never listen to your husband or wife. God is a God of relationship, a God of father, son and holy spirit. God is a God of companionship. He is the “I am with you”. Prayer makes this concrete, it is the vene of this relationship for your daily life.

God, it is so good, that you are there. It is fantastic to know that you are full of treasure and wisdom, truth, love and compassion. Please teach me your thoughts, your mercy, your perspective, your viewpoint! Please come with your holy spirit today, into my life, and let me understand what you think, what you want, how you see things and how you want to develop me and my environment! Thank your, eternal Lord!

Enjoy your day! (Roland Potthast)