Because I
have been unable to attend church recently I have not written any blogs for a
while but now I’m feeling up to being a bit creative, so I thought I’d try something
personal.
At home
trying to recover from a raft of various illnesses, I have been doing some
reading which has focused on prayer.
I think
we are all past our prayers being a shopping list and have at least progressed
to thanking God for care shown to us and blessings heaped upon us, but these
readings took me even past that.
Prayer is
not necessarily a special time set apart. We can be in a prayerful attitude all
through our day, responding to God’s outstretched invitation to share our lives
as we move through the activities or thoughts of our daily lives. Prayer is an attitude of life when we seek to
walk side by side with our maker, minute by minute, being joined with the One
who created us and who offers us so much. So much by way of friendship and
guidance, but more that that. God through the Spirit, lifts us up onto another
plane of being where we become the person we are meant to be.
However
the reading I have covered, points to something more. The purpose of prayer is
for us to build a relationship with God.
At first this seemed an amazing thought. But when God was asked who he
was the answer was : “I am”. That is, a being, and as a being wants a
relationship with other beings. An invitation is extended to each of us to join
in fellowship, walking through our daily lives, linked with God.
Another
issue covered in the readings is that many of us have built lives as
Christians, serving others in God’s name. We see our purpose as spreading the
news of God’s love by giving that love to others through service to them. But
in doing so our time is absorbed with activities that involve other people.
Which is right and should be so, except that we forget that the source of that
Love is God and for that Love we spread to be authentic it must flow from God
and can only do so if we are in a close relationship with God, absorbing that
love daily.
That is
the focus of today’s blog. Are we seeking a relationship with God? How much do
we value God and the relationship we can have with God? Is God and the
relationship we can have with God our first intention? Or do we seek our
relationship with God for the love offered to us and the world around us?
Imagine
how we would feel if we found out that our partner had sought a relationship
with us only for the family which would come of it and the love they could
offer. Wouldn’t we be hurt? Don’t we want our partner to seek a relationship
with us for the sake of that relationship in the first place?
Of course
we should talk with God about the things we think we need, or things we think
others need. And of course we should thank God for all our blessings. And a
special time should be set aside for prayer only. But none of those is the main
purpose of prayer.
And so,
are we seeking a relationship with God for the sake of that relationship in the
first place or for what flows from it?
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