Sending a text message to the Almighty
Imagine you are Nehemiah in the modern day context. You were sent to sent to England for work when one day, your brother, Hanani, informed you about Japan’s attack on your homeland,Singapore. Your heart was sinking when you heard that your house was buried deep in the rubbles. You were devasted and you retreated yourself in fervent prayers and fasts. You can’t help but to feel sad and when you’re mourning in sorrow,saddness will be reflected in your eyes. The boss, whom you’ve been serving for a very long time, witnessed your downcast eyes and asked, ” You look unhappy. Are you feeling sick? Do you need an MC? “
You want to be totally honest and frank with your boss,so you replied, ” No, sir. I am devasted upon hearing news about my country being destroyed and was now left in ruins. How could I not feel worried and anxious about my country and my people? ”
Unknowingly, almost out of the blue, your boss responded with this question, ” So, how can I help you? Do you have any request? “
At this point, could you say, ” Boss, could you give me a moment to think about it? Give me 5 minutes. Just 5 minutes!” ? You wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity by asking the higher authority to wait. In time of an emergency like this, you would probably want to send a text message to God.
” Dear Lord, I need you right now.O Lord, grant me extra strength as I face this critical moment.”
Message sent.
Whether you are in need for guidance or resources always seek for the divine and make your petition known to Him. I use to think that in order to communicate with God, we should all perform a proper prayer ritual where we would clasp our hands together, shut our eyes, murmur the Lord’s prayer aloud and then present our prayer requests to God. But what if we don’t follow this prayer ritual? What if we don’t bow our heads in silence to pray? Does it makes us less spiritual if we open our eyes to pray to our Father?
According to William D.Brehm, there is really no hard and fast rules to any special physical position you must attain during prayers. Besides, according to the bible, it also says,”when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matt 6:6)”.The verse simply says that we should pray in an environment where there’s no distraction such that we could stay focus in our prayers. So, perhaps, cutting of your sense of sight can greatly help you to focus on Jesus Christ. Bowing down in prayer with your hands clasps together shows that you are humbling down yourself before the Lord.
Even more so, with our hectic lifestyle, we tend to spend lesser time with God that somehow, sending “text messages” to God seems like a good and quick solution to communicate with God when in a dire need of help. For instance, with my rather hectic work-life, I often find it challenging to pour out my prayer request and thanksgiving to God.So, while I’m working or commuting on the bus, I would take some time out to chat with God. It seems all fuss-free and convenient but we must bear in mind that we cannot compromise such prayer-o-grams over fervent and believing petitions to God. Similarly, like what Hughes had mentioned, ” some rewards in prayer come only in proportion to the effort.”
Why?
Because the currency in Heaven is effort.
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“Give your best and let God do the rest.”
Amen.
