The God to Whom We Pray
A question common to many is: "If God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, why should I pray?" I pray because not because God needs to hear from me, needs my acknowledgment and adoration. I pray because I need to recognize and acknowledge the presence and power of God active in me when I remember who I am:
"The Spirit of Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." Ro. 8:16-17
Some cry out in pain and anger, asking "Why should I believe in God, why should I pray to a God who would let this happen to me?! He doesn't listen, doesn't care--why should I?" I have walked that path and never have I felt so empty and alone in my life. My world was ashes, empty of color, of hope. Gradually, I came to the understanding that life without faith in God is no life at all. That no matter how bad things seem in the moment, trying to live without God is like trying to walk uphill on black ice.
I believe that God's will for me is absolute good, but He has given me free will, the right to make choices--whether consciously or by default. Following the herd mentality is the path of least resistance, but rarely the path to spiritual transformation. Prayer is a choice. Living a prayerful, God-aware life is a choice. My choices are the building blocks of my consciousness. In prayer, I drink deeply from the fountain of life.
"Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life." John 4:13-14
Rev. Claudia Naylor
