How to Pray
Praying is never easy: often complicated, and even
paradoxical.
You’ve got to know what you want so
that you can ask what you want in
order to get what you want.
So, before you pray, you must know
your true self: who and what you really are, and not who and
what you wish you were.
Praying is talking to God through your heart,
and not your words; repeating a right set of words isn’t as important as your
heart talking to Him.
Prayer is God’s gift to anyone who prays for that free gift.
So, to pray for that free gift, you
must show your desire to feel God’s
presence, which is in anyone and everyone, as well as in anything and
everything.
Several decades ago, a former
colleague of mine had the opportunity to meet and dine with Gladys Aylward, a British missionary to
China , whose amazing story
was made into a Hollywood film in 1958: “The Inn
of the Sixth Happiness”, starring Ingrid
Bergman.
My former colleague told me that at
the dinner with Gladys she found it very “odd” that Gladys had repeated almost
non-stop “Praise the Lord!” throughout the dinner—when
someone passed her a dish, some bread, even salt and pepper, or when someone
made a comment. It might not have looked “odd” to someone who’d like to feel the presence of God in every moment of his or her life.
So,
from now on, whenever you say “Thank you” aloud, maybe you should also try to
say in silence “Praise the Lord!” so that you may feel His presence in your heart.
To feel His omnipresence, you must also still your thoughts with mindfulness, and live in the now.
Prayer is how you react and respond to His presence in your daily life.
Always begin your prayer with God,
and not yourself.
Asking for your needs is
self-delusional: God already knows
your needs.
Asking for your wants is
self-sabotaging: trying to make God change
His mind about what He has already wanted for you.
So, don’t pray for “be happy”, “be
healthy”, and “be wealthy.”
If you’re blessed with His presence,
you’ll still feel your happiness even in your adversities. Depression is
humans’ refusal of letting go to receive His presence.
If you’re blessed with His wisdom,
you’ll know how to take care of your body, even when you’re sick.
If
you’re blessed with His
grace, you’ll learn
to let go of your greed and covetousness
for your wealth.
Always pray for your trust and obedience: trust that God will give you the power to “respond
positively” to any life challenge you may face; obedience that God will give
you the wisdom to embrace anything and every-thing to let go of your control of
your own destiny.
Remember, your prayers are always
answered, but not your own expectations.
The TAO wisdom (the ancient wisdom from China
“An empty mind with no craving and no expectation helps us
letting go.
Being in the world and not of the world, we attain heavenly
grace.
With heavenly grace, we become pure and selfless.
And everything settles into its own perfect place.”
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 3)
Li
Ching-Yuan was probably the longest-living Chinese in history, who died on
May 6, 1933 at the age of over 200 years.
This is one of his thought-provoking
sayings regarding Zen, an Eastern philosophy about being and a way of thinking:
“Before I had studied Zen for thirty years,
I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters.
When I arrived with a more intimate knowledge,
I saw that mountains are not mountains,
and waters are not waters.
But now that I have got its very substance,
I am at rest.
For it is just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and
waters once again as waters.”
Li Ching-Yuan
Li
Ching-Yuan was talking about awakening
or self-enlightenment, which is
always effortless and spontaneous. So, if you strive to know and understand
anything and everything, the awakening may never come.
You may like to pray, but your prayers
are seldom answered; then you’ll see “mountains as mountains, and waters as
waters.”
Your desire in seeking God may somehow change your perspectives; then you may see
“mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters.”
But finding
God, and living in His presence,
you’ll just see that “mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again
as waters”—in other words, “prayers are seldom answered or
not answered at all” is not only irrelevant but also inexplicable. What really
matters is that you’ve found the spiritual wisdom to live your life as if
everything is a miracle.
So, don’t use your pre-programmed
causal reasoning to make sense out of the senseless in life. Instead, express
your trust and obedience to your Creator and fully live in His presence.
Click here to get Why Prayers Are Seldom Answered.
Click here to get The Complete Tao Te Ching in Plain English.
Stephen Lau
Copyright
© Stephen Lau
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