004//prayer

“Love and prayer: the two most important things in a Christian's life.”

I think we underestimate ourselves far too often, humans that is. Think of how many people that you know, friends or family perhaps, that struggle with issues of self-worth, depression, or inferiority complexes. These aren’t uncommon; in fact they’re far too common. Gnosticism, subversively, runs rampant in our culture: how many times have you been subliminally bombarded with phrases like, “you’re never going to look as good as that model” or, “you’re never going to win the love of that person you adore.” Maybe you didn’t even notice it, but the next time you flip through ANY magazine, look at the advertisements and try to focus on how you’re being manipulated by them.

Let’s talk about Gnosticism really quickly (in plain terms; consult your local theologian for more information): Gnosticism is the theory that the flesh is detestable and all things spiritual are good. For example: a Gnostic believes that the only way to achieve “secret knowledge” is to deny their flesh. In our society, Gnosticism is apparent in more ways then you would think. Think of how often the spiritual is placed overtop of humanity. “I just wish I were dead, so I could be in heaven!” So that quote was said in humor, but you get the idea.

Now, the main point of this article is to demonstrate how often humans underestimate themselves, Gnosticism being an example. But I think that the greatest ways that humans have been fooled into thinking they’re insignificant is to believe that prayer is pointless. Prayer is one of the most interesting facets of Christian life; what other belief system features a believer in direct communication with their god? (I’m not incredibly educated on world religions, so if there are religions that do feature that, feel free to email me, and put me in my place.) As followers, we have the ability to talk with the creator of the universe.

Just try to fathom that for a minute.

Our creator loves us so much that he gave us the chance to lift our thoughts up to him.

I’ve never been a great example of a pray-er. I was raised on the “before-meal prayer” and the “before-bed prayer”. I figured that since I was putting in that time, that I was filling one of my God quotas (reading my Bible was a different quota). It never dawned on me that God actually wanted to be in conversation with me. Maybe I was too young to care, I don’t know. In high school, God turned into my conscious cleaner; anytime I needed to feel better about my lack of passion, or, negatively, my abundance of apathy, as I fell asleep I would ask God to forgive me for all of that. I don’t know why, it’s not like God meant that much to me in other aspects of my life, so I’m not sure why I felt I needed to ask for forgiveness. Even now, I don’t find myself spending as much time in prayer as I should, but I at least try to make an effort to let God in on what’s going on in my head.
So that’s me, I mean, I don’t know how, or when, you pray, but I think it’s crucial that each Christian spends time in prayer. So here’s my handy guide on how you might be able to fit some prayer into your hectic life. If none of these apply, email me with your situation, and with my all-knowing guidance, I will help turn you into the next Billy Graham. Please don’t quote me on that:

Jamison’s Guide to Praying in Chaos.

1. How often do you spend sitting in front of a TV? Try to avoid television. Our culture is far too apathetic and lazy as it is. We need to bring back our generation’s imagination, and one way to accomplish this is to get outside, away from television. Now here is where prayer can come in: try to spend the same amount of time that you spend watching television, in prayer. Yeah I know, it’s a big ordeal, but really, why should it be. The only reason it seems like a big task is because we’re so used to watching TV. Maybe you don’t watch TV, and maybe your thing is spending time on the Internet. I’m a victim of this: I can spend HOURS, literally, doing absolutely nothing on the Internet. If we can turn this time into time spent in prayer, the whole world will benefit.

2. Turn the mundane parts of life, into times of worship. How many of you commute? If you live in an urban center, there’s a good chance that you take some sort of transit system. Try praying for the people on your bus, or sky train, or whatever. Most of the times I’m on the bus, I’m just listening to music, staring out the window. Why not turn that half an hour, or however long, into a time of prayer.

*Note – Prayer doesn’t necessarily mean closing your eyes, folding your hands and bowing your head. Contrary to what your Sunday school teacher told you, you can pray with your eyes open, looking like a normal person. So if you’re scared to looking too evangelical on your bus, don’t worry, you can just sit and look sad like you normally do.

3. Get into creation. Because we all come from different climates, some of you may not be able to take advantage of this until the snow is gone, but for those of us that are blessed to have the sun, this is a great way to experience God. A few days after Christmas, I had the house to myself, and I felt like going for a walk. I walked for a good three hours, headphones scoring my soundtrack. As I walked, I just thought over the stresses of my life, and I lifted them up to God. The countryside in BC is truly beautiful, and it was hard not to think of God’s amazing beauty through creation. Maybe while walking through the snow in downtown Regina, you’ll experience God’s beauty. God’s beauty is far greater than the Fraser Valley, or snowy prairies. It can even be found in an old photograph, or in that song that makes you close your eyes, in pure bliss. When you’re in one of those moments, why not thank God for it?

Once again, I’m not any sort of expert; I’m just a guy who’s trying to grow closer to God, which is what I hope you’re trying to do too. Before I go, I want to tell you a story about my friend Drew.

Drew and I used to play in a band, and we were pretty tight. When the band was living at my house in BC, Drew didn’t work, so he had a lot of time to kill during the day. So Drew killed time by walking. A lot. There were a few obvious reasons why someone would go on so many walks: it’s good for your health, it’s a nice escape, and it’s a time to be alone with your thoughts. But I was still always curious why he spent so much time going on walks, until one day. I asked Drew why he went on so many walks, and what he’d do on walks. He took a second to think about it, and he told me that he prayed. That was the best time for him to pray. If you chart the amount of praying he did, to the amount of walks he went on, that boy did a lot of praying. I always admired that about him; he really cared about prayer, and he understood how important and underrated it is.

I don’t know where Drew is, but I do know that he’s praying.

“Prayer is an existential struggle; we are in co-operation with God in creating our future.”