By K. A. Mathew
Prayer is the gateway to heaven, through worship. It doesn’t demand intelligence or eloquence. In reality, prayer is a precious key to discover the value and meaning of life – the life in this world. While prayer can certainly be understood as a gift from god, it is also an effort from our part. The battle is against ourselves, i.e. Our nature and against the tempter Satan, who works hard to distract us away from prayer and our contact with god heavenly father. The devils strategy is to constantly flood our being with earthly information, sensation, distractions and all manner of ways to lure us in order to keep our minds and hearts occupied with other things. The world and all its stimuli have nothing to offer the spirit man. Faith and expectation are two essential factors to hear the voice of god. It is impossible to please god without faith. (Hebrews 11:6).
Never pray without expectation. Our god will always be faithful to answer an expectant heart. If we live and pray with expectation, we will hear his voice. God speaks clearly when we endeavor to obey him. Then it is important to maintain the spiritual freshness – establish a daily quality quiet time with god, in order to replenish our spiritual resources. The best period for a quiet time, in my opinion is the morning hours – before the day starts. Each must establish the best time according to preference or convenience. Without a word about fasting prayer this can’t be concluded. In new testament times fasting was a channel of power. Fasting is very important than many of us supposed. Fasting is not simply to abstain from food, but from anything that hinders our communion with god. When exercised with a pure heart and a right motive, fasting may provide us with a key to unlock doors where other keys have failed.
Good thoughts, good words, good deeds – the quality of our life reflects the quality of our prayer relationship with our god.
