The knowledge of God is obviously based on faith.
This faith is the first response of the human heart to the content of religious
truths, an agreement with and acceptance of them. As it strengthens and becomes
deeper, this faith eventually brings one's heart to peace in God, to a
Christian hope on God. On the other hand, Orthodoxy teaches us that the
Christian faith is inseparably bound to love for God. And love always demands a
living, personal relationship with the one we love. In our relationship with
God, this love is first of all made manifest in prayer.
One who does not pray is not a Christian. Prayer
is the first and most essential element in our spiritual life. It is the breath
of our soul, and without it, the soul dies, just as the body dies without air.
All the vital functions of the body depend upon its breathing. In exactly the
same way, one's spiritual life depends on prayer, and a person who does not
pray to God is spiritually dead.
Prayer is the conversation of man with God. One who remembers, knows and loves God will unfailingly turn
to Him in prayer. There is a seriously erroneous view of prayer now becoming
wide spread. Some say, "One must not force oneself to pray. If I desire to
pray, I will pray, if there is no desire, there is no need to pray."
This is a complete lack of understanding of the
matter. What would one accomplish in one's worldly activity if one did not
force oneself to do anything, but only did what was desired? More
so in spiritual life, where everything that is precious and meaningful is
acquired by force, by the struggle of work on oneself. Let us again
recall that according to our Savior, the Kingdom
of God (and everything pertaining to it) is attained by force.
So, it is indispensable for a Christian to firmly accept in his heart that he
must pray no matter what, regardless of his desire or lack of desire. If you
have a good desire to pray, thank God from Whom
everything good comes, and do not lose the chance to pray from the soul. If you
do not have this desire, and the time for prayer arrives, then it is necessary
to force yourself, encouraging your lethargic and lazy spirit by reminding it
that prayer (like every good deed) is all the more precious in God's eyes when
it is given with difficulty. The Lord does not disdain any prayer if one prays
sincerely, as best he knows how, even though he has not developed the habit of
praying fully and with unweakening fervor.
One who lives even a partial spiritual Christian life, will
always find something about which to pray to Him, because for such a person,
God is a loving Father, a Mighty Protector and an unending Spring of help and
strength. The Christian hurries to Him in need and in woe, as a child to its
parent.
In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, our
Lord declared that, "True worshippers worship the Father in Spirit and
in Truth." This is the basic principle of Christian prayer. It must be
fulfilled in spirit and truth, and in praying, a Christian must gather all his
spiritual strengths into one deep, concentrated effort in himself, in his soul
and contemplate the words of the prayer. Obviously, when one has such a correct
view of prayer one understands that it is impossible to give the name
"prayer" to the act of merely being present at prayer, or reading it
with the tongue while one's thoughts are far from it. St. John Chrysostom says
of such "prayers," "Your body is inside the church, but your
thoughts have flown to who knows where. The lips pronounce prayers, but the
mind counts income, crops, real estate and friends ... You do not hear your own
prayers - how do you expect that God will hear them?" A Christian must not
pray in such a manner. He prays in "spirit and truth." He prays in
spirit, concentrated in the depth of his "I," through profound
experiences of the heart. He prays in truth - not hypocritically, but in a
sincere frame of mind, in true supplication to the Incarnate Truth - to Christ
the Savior.
Of course, this does not (in spite of Protestant
error) abrogate the necessity of external prayer, but only requires its union
with internal prayer. Man is not an angel; his soul does not live without the
body, just as the body does not live without the soul. Apostle Paul says,
"Glorify God in your bodies also, and in your souls, which are
God's." Therefore, the most basic and complete view of prayer is that in
which both the internal and external are present. They tightly unite with each
other: both inner experience, man's supplication to God, and outer activity -
prostrations, standing at prayer, crossing oneself and various acts in the
Divine Services.
Ordinarily, there are three distinctive types of
prayer: petitioning, glorifying and thanksgiving. In our prayerbooks and Divine
Services, all these three types are applied, mutually complementing one
another.
A person who prays to God must remember that
prayer cannot go unheard if it is sincere and breathes of living faith. The
Lord Himself said, "Everything is possible to one who believes."
Apostle James, however, explains how destructive doubt is in prayer, saying
that one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, tossed to and fro by the wind.
Such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. In the Holy
Gospel, moreover, we often read how the Lord, in healing those who came to Him,
told them, "Let it be according to your faith...Your faith has made you
whole." But firmly believing in God's strength, mercy and help, a
Christian must not forget that every petition for his desires must submit to
the all-good will of the Heavenly Father, Who knows what we need. In such a
state of faith and dedication to God's will, one will thank God equally whether
or not the Lord fulfils one's request. This is quite natural, since such a
person believes absolutely that God's wisdom and love directs everything to the
benefit and good of man. With good reason, we sing in the Church prayer:
"O Thou Who, with wisdom profound, mercifully
order all things, and give that which is expedient
unto all men."
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