Thoughts for another day

June 15, 2012. Today's verse: Lk. 22:46 …and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial. (NRSV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, who came from God to return back to Him, gave this command, to not sleep but pray - in most versions, it is 'that you may not fall into temptation' but we look at NRSV, which includes 'trials', which also means temptation, but slightly wider than what it often means, viz. a trigger to sin. Jesus I'm sure meant we pray for any and every purpose and surely He, the Master of creation, understood the need to pray and of course its effect as He Himself prayed.

Looking at this, I'll agree with His loving suggestion to not sleep but get up and pray.  I do it in my own life, in the evening.  It's difficult to do regularly for the moment you begin, you have many excuses to not pray or if you do, to wind it up fast; for you, see the evil one makes you suddenly so important that without you the world would stop running!  So it's simply impossible to go and pray for a long stretch of time and again if you have to do it alone, there's another trick he uses; that is to give you sleeping pills, so you can sleep and before you know it, you have spent half an hour sleeping and when you suddenly wake up, it's time to go back to normal chores.  But mind you, the one who knows to pray, achieves much.  Many Graces are accorded to them who pray: silent and invisible they may be but Graces yet, no doubt.  I've found the discipline to pray very useful and without prayer I'm a little uneasy.  I must confess it's a Grace of God that a man can pray regularly.

While we must pray for our own needs, we also remember the whole world and the desperate need for God to send His Word unto the souls of those who walk the face of the earth.  Without it humans will never accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not be saved.  Even among professing Christians, I see so many not doing what they must do and so we pray for them too.  We pray that justice reign in every part of the world, whether it is Egypt, Syria or even the US of A.   We must pray that evil forces are demolished and good reigns.  We pray for food sufficiency and for the rains to provide health to the earth.  I can go on but suffice it for me to say that all the above that I've listed are prayers the good Lord will grant us when we ask Him and also the things we asked for ourselves.  He loves a praying soul and He knows that, that soul is just a single touch away from His heart and one day, He will give that touch so that the soul will meld into His being, in ecstasy and complete liberty, which experience He even does give once in a while, here on earth, to those who struggle to grope into His heart and see there His grave need and pray for it, if you understand what I mean.