Learning to Pray: Resolving 3 Issues Teaches Us How to Pray （Continued)

Prayer to God

Spiritual Life | 3. Do You Pray to Seek Understanding of God’s Will and to Stand Witness for Him?

Sometimes in our lives we encounter issues that aren’t in line with our notions, like problems at work or in the home, or we may even be faced with some sort of catastrophe. When these things occur, most of us ask God to take away these unpleasant environments and give us peace and happiness. Even if we work hard or even give up our relationships and our jobs to serve God, if we encounter something like a major illness we’re unable to calm ourselves and seek God’s will, and pray that we may stand witness and satisfy God. Instead, we pray to God, begging for Him to heal our sickness so that we can be free of the torment of illness as soon as possible. When God accedes to our request, we thank and praise Him, but when He does not make us well, we are disheartened and disappointed in God; we live within negativity, complaining about Him and we may even have the urge to toss our efforts for Him out the window. We can see from this that we are too enamored of our own fleshly interests; in our hearts we do not love or wish to satisfy God. We often make unreasonable requests in our prayers, making demands of Him in selfish and despicable ways to have Him do things according to what we want. We absolutely do not worship the Creator from the proper position of created beings. Why would God heed such prayers? Then how should we pray so we are in line with God’s will? His words direct us onto that path: “When you encounter difficulties, hurry up and pray to God: ‘O God! I wish to satisfy You, I wish to endure the final hardship to satisfy Your heart, and regardless of how great the setbacks I encounter, still I must satisfy You. Even if I have to give up my whole life, still I must satisfy You!’ With this resolve, when you pray thus you will be able to stand firm in your testimony” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God”). “You hurt inside, and your suffering has reached a certain point, yet you are still willing to come before God and pray, saying: ‘O God! I cannot leave You. Although there is darkness within me, I wish to satisfy You; You know my heart, and I would that You invest more of Your love within me’” (“Only by Experiencing Refinement Can Man Truly Love God”).

When hardships come upon us, we must seek God’s will and pray that we can stand witness and satisfy God. We must also have the resolve to love and satisfy God, and be willing to endure physical suffering if it means standing witness for God rather than praying for our own interests. Only this kind of prayer is in line with God’s will, and this is also having the kind of conscience and reason we as created beings should possess. For example, Job lost all of his possessions and his children through his trials and he himself was afflicted with boils from head to toe; he suffered enormous emotional and physical pain. But he did not moan to God about why He had allowed him to suffer all of this, nor did he ask God to take his suffering away. Instead, he first submitted and prayed to seek God’s will. He recognized that all he owned had not been gained through his own toil, but had been bestowed by God; whether God gives or takes away, as created beings we should naturally submit to God’s rule and arrangements. We should not have any requirements of God, or any complaints. This is the reason we as humans should possess. Job said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). Job ended up bearing a resounding witness for God by relying on his reverence, obedience, and faith for God. We should learn from Job’s example and when encountering something not in line with our notions, we must first quiet ourselves before God and rush to pray to seek God’s will, and pray that we may stand witness and satisfy God. This is the most critical aspect of our practice. This way, God can guide us; He can give us faith and strength to help us through any passes we may face, so that we may stand firm in our testimony through trials.

These are the three issues we must resolve in our prayer. As long as we practice and enter in according to these principles in our daily lives, I am confident that all of us, brothers and sisters, will reap rewards we never dreamed of.

Source from: Eastern Lightning | Faith and Christian Life

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