I once heard someone say, prayer isn’t part of your
relationship with God, prayer IS your relationship with God. That is a thought
I often keep in mind when I’m talking to people about God.
For me prayer has been a lot of things, a struggle to humble
myself before God, a challenge to do what I know is right regardless of the
personal hardships I might face, a comfort in the God whom I know loves me, and
a joyful experience of happiness and peace are just a few of the things prayer
has been. What I’ve been learning recently however, is how prayer, at its root,
is that original and simple definition of lifting one’s mind and heart to God.
This simple definition describes the essence of prayer. It
tells us that we don’t have to be in a certain place, have a certain attitude,
or have a cookie cutter approach to begin to pray. It shows how we are able to
simply lift our minds and hearts to God in whatever state we are currently in.
We could be angry, we could be sad, we could be upset, or maybe tired, or frustrated,
or impatient, or any other number of things and that is OK. God asks us to
bring ourselves to him as we are, not as we’d like to be. That is the proper
place to start. Jesus says that he came not for the righteous but sinners, not
for the healthy but sick for “those
who are well have no need of a physician” (Mark 2:17).
Jesus in our
wounded state, in our sickness, in our unrighteousness offers us healing and
pardon and peace. Through this healing and pardon and peace he gives us a new
life, a good life, a happy life of joy and abounding in love. Jesus also said
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). This
life of love and peace and happiness is what Christ desires for us every moment
of every day. We need only to bring ourselves to him whenever, wherever, and
however we are. We are not called to be perfect to come to prayer, for
it is the process of prayer that makes us perfect. This process might at first
be painful, uncomfortable, or humbling, but those things are simply the divine
physician cutting open and cleaning a wound so it can properly heal. Once
healed and set right, the patient can move and be free from that ailment or
problem and live more abundantly than before.
It all begins with that first step, that first act of love,
that first surrendering of one’s pride so they might humbly receive the divine
diagnoses as to eventually be healed. This takes courage and an act of our will
that we often times don’t like to do, surrender. This surrender is the only
thing that will truly set us free and bring us the healing we so desire! Below
are two things that can help us in beginning this process of prayer, in this
surrender to God’s will.
Matt Rossio
Youth Minister
__________________________________________
PRAYER OF SURRENDER
PRAYER
OF SURRENDER
(Pray this prayer when you are ready to experience intimacy with
God, and hunger for a deeper relationship with Him. When you are ready to
understand fully His purpose and plan for you, the reason for your mere
existence, surrender to Him, pour out all your heart and soul to Him in an act
of giving all up to Him. It’s okay to ask Him to help you to do it.)
“….may Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42),
Loving Father, I surrender to You today with all my heart
and soul. Please come into my heart in a deeper way. I say “Yes” to
You today. I open all the secret places in my heart to you and say, “Come
on in.” Jesus, You are Lord of my whole life. I believe in You and
receive You as my Lord and Savior. I hold nothing back. Holy
Spirit, bring me deeper conversion to the person of Jesus Christ. I
surrender all to you: my health, my family, my resources, occupation, skills,
relationships, time management, successes and failures. I release it, and
let it go. I surrender my understanding of how things out to be; my
choices and my will. I surrender to You the promises I have kept and the
promises I have failed to keep. I surrender my weaknesses and strengths
to You. I surrender my emotions, my fears, my insecurities, my
everything. I surrender _____________, ______________________,
_______________________, _____________________. (Continue to surrender other
areas as the Holy Spirit reveals them to you). Lord, I surrender my
entire life to You, the past, the present and the future. In sickness and
in health, in life and in death, I belong to You.
“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my
understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have
given all of me. To you, O Lord, and I return it. All is
Yours. Dispose of it wholly according to Your will. Give me Your
Love and Your grace, for this is sufficient for me.” – Saint Ignatius of Loyola
The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
Amen.
