Communication with God.

Psalm 46:10 ''Be still and know that I Am God''

Hey everyone, I decided to make a post about this topic because of a photo I came across on Instagram that had this bible verse Psalm 46:10-''Be calm and know that I am God''. The caption of that photo talked about our daily communication with God and how we should have trust in Him. Sometimes when you find yourself doing the same routine everyday, you tend to lose interest and zeal towards that activity especially when there is no motivating factor.For instance, if you pray daily and the constantly ask for protection for your loved ones, there would be a day when you will feel tired about asking for this particular request.However, you may feel that there is no need to pray because God knows all your desires, thereby he would simply answer them because he loves you while other times you will feel that maybe I should constantly repeat words to God in my prayer, so that he can know that you really know want your requests to be answered. This is a basic problem in communication that occurs in our daily life with people, let alone Almighty God but let us reflect on some bible verses concerning these problems.

How to pray

This is a usual problem that most people make mistakes in, sometimes we make series of statements without before reaching our main points in prayer but we forget that one re-emphasised attribute of God is his ''omniscience'', in other words ''ever-knowing''. Before you pray, God knows what you want to say, he knows your heart inside out like it was the back of his palm. Therefore, beating about the bush before making your concrete statement may seem disrespectful but lets just say that we as human have a lot to learn when it comes to communicating with God. In reflection to this problem, let us highlight a verse in the bible that represents what Jesus Christ had to say.

''When you pray, do not use a lot of useless words, as pagans do, who think that their gods will hear then because their prayers are long. Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him''- Matthew 6:7-8

Quick and rushed prayers 

Sometimes when we pray, we quicken our words or sermons to finish quick because we have other things on our minds to do but what we forget is that we are not speaking to our parents, friends or boss at work. We are speaking to Our Creator, there should be an application of love, patience and reverence in our prayers to show gratitude of being alive. The book of ecclesiastics spoke about rules and attitudes we as human beings should have towards God and our daily encounters with people.

 '' Think before you speak and do not make rash promises to God , He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say anymore than you have to''- Ecclesiastics 5:2

Weariness towards prayers 

There are times were you feel that your requests are ignored or probably you got the unexpected in a situation you thought will be fruitful. Sometimes, when you are going through a situation and you dont understand why it should be you passing through such difficulties, You wonder if God is listening to you because you havent observed any changes in your situation but let us question ourselves, how do we establish a relationship with Our Creator  without the foundation of faith. Faith is the foundation of a relationship with God, you cannot be a christian or in any form of religion without believing that there is a greater being who oversees the universe and created You and I,who will take time out of his schedule to look upon your life and evaluate your present situation.

I will relate this weariness to the Israelites while they were slaves in Egypt, they spent 400 years in a foreign land were they were slaves to the Pharaoh who killed their young males and enforced them to work without rest. They cried out to God  in prayers to deliver them from their torment and after a while of not seeing any changes, some of them despaired in God but  God didn't forget them, he chose Moses [ an Israelite who was taken care of by the Egyptian Princess] to lead them out of slavery, he had his people in mind but looked for the right person at the right time to deliver them from bondage. Therefore, if the Almighty God has heard your cries, tears, requests and complaints about a situation in your life and you feel he hasn't responded you then, please know that he is looking for the right time to see you through your situation.

For more information of the Israelites in Egypt, you could read the book of Exodus in Old Testament, the bible

As a christian, you should try to pray often without any form of discouragement or distraction of difficult situation.

1 Thessalonians 5:17- Pray without ceasing.

Pray without occasion because you dont have an idea how the next hours will be like, you have no idea if you will be hit by a truck or get provoked by a friend or colleague who will lead you to act on your emotions and end up in a guilty position. Being a christian doesn't assure you that no challenges or struggles will come your way or that you automatically become a perfect person, actually it assures you that your struggles will be handled by God at his own time and even if you fail in your ways, you could trust in God to help you out. This is why King David wrote Psalm 46 to encourage himself and his people that be calm and not to panic in the face of problem and bad situations.

Reflecting on: Psalm 46: Be calm and know that I am God-  acts as a reminder for us to know that we cant handle our struggles alone, we should trust God to help us through our life.

Where to pray.

This issue was widely discussed by Jesus Christ who states that while praying, you should go into your room where no one is and pray, then the Father who is ever present would listen to you. Jesus Christ made reference to pharisees who pray standing in the synagogue or street corners to be seen by men, surely they will receive their reward and if you fast wash, your face, feet and be cheerful while fasting. Afterall, you made a choice to do so. He said dont be like the hypocrites who go around with frowned faces so that they could be seen for their actions and be termed 'righteous'.Prayer is a an interaction and communication with God for the purpose of you knowing more about yourself and knowing more about Our creator. Some of us pray as though we deisre our neighbours to see us and give us a good name which is not negative but their intentions are similar to the actions of pharisees of old. Praying in the midst of people is not a bad step, you may be in a place or have an unpleasant feeling whcih you need to pray about but the issue is the intention for praying in public. ARE YOU PRAYING BECAUSE YOU WANT PEOPLE TO HONOR YOU? or YOU ARE PRAYING BECAUSE YOU WANT GOD TO BE HONORED? I think we need to evaluatre our intentions for carrying out certain actions but lest I forget people have individual commitments with the Holy Spirit, so I advice that follow as the spirit leads because he knows the part he has set for you. 

Self-evaluation

As a student of critical thinking, it enables me to ask the question WHY? in the literature and this skill could be applied into our religious lives in the sense of asessing the reasons for certain actions we perform because it is the reason that drives will and the will produces actions .However as a christian, I dont advice you should question God's intentions for your life but my utmost advice is to have faith in your walk with him, it is not easy but its worthwhile.Furthermore, before we carryout any actions in any part of our lives, there is need to question our motives and  examine the consequences that will result from this action.

Conclusion 

I hope this post was helpful to interested readers out there, keep in mind that life is a journey and we all  are on it. Also, I would like you to know that most of the content of this blog are the list of things I have experienced and I think about which I now have the boldness to publish on this blog.

            Thanks for reading and have a blessed life.

Best Wishes,

Peace.