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Archives: July 2010
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Archives: July 2010
Just a one-sided conversation
By Dan Wilton
Haven’t you heard what she said?….Yeah….I know….and the pot noodle! Yeah, the pot noodle as well!...Well that’s what I said...yeah…rubbish…..Ha!...ok then….ok...see you later then. Byyyyye!
Make a lot of sense? I thought not! Sounds familiar though, doesn’t it? (Ok maybe not that familiar but you get my point). As seen in every major film, TV series and even some books, this is one-side of a telephone call. We have no idea of the other side of the conversation (even if we can make some pretty good guesses) and it can seem confusing and strange even if it makes perfect sense to the people involved.
Now, when most people think of the Christian faith, one of the first things that’ll come to mind will be prayer. Unfortunately, many people’s view of prayer will have been thrust upon them by an angry head teacher in assembly:
“EYE’S CLOSED PERKINS!!! YES I CAN SEE YOU! AND PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER NOW!!”.
Even if that wasn’t the case, the prayer was then usually totally irrelevant and mumbled along with a hearty “arrrrrmen” spoken in perfect unison at the end. I bet you felt really spiritually refreshed after that!
Jesus had a lot to say on the subject of prayer and He didn’t seem to mind whether or not people had their hands clasped together in a grip of steel! He wanted people to be honest in prayer and use it as a conversation with God- not an opportunity to make themselves look better.
"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you"
Matthew 6:6
I think we sometimes struggle with prayer because we feel inadequate and like we’re “doing it wrong”. When we hear people pray in prayer meetings and in services, we can feel a real pressure to pray for the benefit of those around us rather than to God. Sometimes we pray how we hear other people praying or pray how we think it should be done.
Prayer shouldn’t be like that. Prayer should be an honest conversation with God and an open reflection of our feelings. People can get so hung up on the technicalities of prayer that they miss the bigger picture and the real value that prayer holds.
Another thing we can often struggle with is that the conversations seem to be a little one sided. Just like an overheard phone conversation, we feel like we’re getting no response and it doesn’t make sense.
This can seem especially true when we’ve prayed time and time again and nothing appears to be happening. We can start to give up hope and feel let down. “Didn’t Jesus say ‘Knock and the door will open’? Didn’t He speak parables on persistent prayer? Well I’ve been persistent but nothing’s happening!”
The thing is, persistent prayer doesn’t always mean that things will go the way we want. And our take on persistent prayer may not always be persistent enough! God may teach us in the waiting and help us without our even noticing.
Many times, I’ve found situations to get much better and yet my prayers don’t seem to get answered in the way I wanted them to. God often improves the situation in a way I didn’t even expect. I miss the obvious because I’m not looking for it- I’m looking for what I want, not what God wants. Think of all those in real difficulties across the world to whom prayer is not a luxury- it’s a necessity. To them, every day is an answered prayer, every new meal; a gift from God.
I used to think that prayer was strange in many ways. Put it this way; if you could hear your friend’s thoughts, would you bother to phone them up to chat? If you already knew everything, would you get annoyed with them gassing about their day? I’m sure I would and I wonder how God puts up with it! He knows all there is to know about us, He knows how we feel about everything and yet He still loves us to talk about it! How amazing is that?! He delights in us just making contact and taking the time to chat to Him.
In many ways, I think prayer goes beyond just a simple conversation with God- it can be a real help for us in a whole range of ways. Just getting a situation off our chests can be a life saver!
The effects of letting God take control and giving our lives to Him in prayer can be a release from all our troubles and worries. Although it can seem like a bizarre, one-sided telephone call at times, God does answer prayer and we should be on the lookout for his answer. Sometimes we just need to stop and take the time to look over our lives to see what God has done. The answers that we desire have often already been given- we just haven’t spotted them yet. You can’t have a two-sided conversation without listening to the other person. Listen to God and you may be surprised at what you hear!
About the author
Dan is 16, likes cricket, photography and God! He plays the clarinet and is hoping to study English, history, maths and physics at college. He's from Eastleigh (near Southampton), and if you like his article, you can read more of his thoughts at his blog:
the diary of a teenage christian...
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