Praying is surrendering in all circumstances

Patience and self-control

It takes patience and self-control to trudge through difficult times, and it requires from us some faith in that what is promised to us in the very old days.

With praying we can ask but also say thank you and give praise. When everything goes right it is easy to forget God or it may also be easy to say thanks to God for times of health and prosperity. But when things go wrong or we do have a lot of problems it might be more difficult to say thanks to God. Though it is not so easy to thank God for our times of trials, storms, and adversity, we are called to give thanks in All circumstances.

Praying to God is also giving Him our heart and showing Him that we do have faith in His intentions and purpose.

Growing closer by surrendering

In our faith life we do have to grow closer to the Most High Elohim. We can do that by regular intensive study of His Word. In the Bible we can find lots of prayers which we can see as examples but which we also can use as prayers to Jehovah. In good but also in bad times we should decide to praise Him in the midst of happy moments, our bad moments, our pains and sorrows. We should not see it as a sacrifice of praise but as a gift of surrender to the One Who we do love and Who offered us the Grace of Salvation.

In this world where not many do love God it might well be that we do need some courage to show our gratitude and love for God. When we do surrender to the Divine Creator, The Elohim Hashem Jehovah this will give our heavenly Father much joy and probably cause the enemy much discomfort. Our relationship and our conversation with God will also serve as a quiet witness to those all around us.

“We ought to give thanks for all fortune:
if it is good, because it is good,
if bad, because it works in us patience,
humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.”
~C.S. Lewis        

When we surrender to Christ and to his heavenly Father the peace of Christ will always greet us if we lift up our needs in prayer, like Jesus did also to his heavenly Father. God loves us so much that he gave His only begotten son, who showed so much love for the world that he gave his body. Jesus restored the relationship between God and His creation so that we now all can come up to Him as His children. When we are prepared to give ourself in His Hands than peace that transcends all understanding shall be available for us as for every child of God. It is never withheld or out of reach. This peace comes when we surrender our challenges and submit to God’s plan, trusting Him to equip us for every obstacle.

Intimacy with God

When we pray we are prepared to want to experience intimacy with God. To be able to do that we do have to free our mind of our daily  ‘besognes” or worries. Our mind which is so often too preoccupied with all that is going on around us we do have to liberate from those problems and thoughts that haunt us.

When we purposely draw near to God with the hopes of Him drawing near to and speaking to us, we have to remember the primary way God speaks to us. He primarily speaks to us through His Word. That Word was brought to us by men of God, His prophets of which Jesus is the most important prophet and Master Teacher. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread…” He was not teaching them to pray for food or provision. He was teaching them to meditate on the scriptures — the Word of his heavenly Father, the Only One God, to Whom Jesus gave all honour, prayed and learned us to pray to.

Chose to associate with who

To be able to come closer to God we do have to be careful with whom we do want to associate. The people who surround us shall influence us. They also shall cause that we take on a certain attitude, therefore it is important which friends we choose. Avoiding bad people who can influence us in a bad way we can show our good sides to others and be an example for God to attract other lovers of God. Together we can unite to take time to talk about God and His Word and to praise Him in unity.
When you try to go on the right path to come in a good relationship with the Most High, try to clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Leaving the past

In case in the past we did do a lot of bad things we should regret them but not linger with them any more. Leave what happened in the past for what it was. Try to change for the good wherever you can, but that what not can be changed any more or turned back, have pity for it, but continue your way in the good sense. Try to put it away by talking with God about it and demanding pardon. For that what you regret god is willing to give forgiveness. It is not just running away from the past like nothing happened, but it is taking on the right attitude to take on, continue your way in a better direction.

Loving God you should make an end to your old life and build up a new life. By trying to set your self apart from the world, i.e. becoming a saint the first on the list of your concerns should be sharing the love Christ had for you with others. As love is patient you should show patience for yourself and for others, forgiving others for what they did wrong to you and praying for them, showing God you forgive them and you feel with them. when you take on the right attitude to others who wrong you, you shall be able to cure more sins than by wanting to bring condemnation. When you are angry or even mad at some one try to take a moment with God, asking Him for advice, giving Him the ability to help you to do the right thing. You may be angry but do not sin. Always remember that your struggles develop your strengths. We also should always remember that the words we use and the tone in which we use are going to define our but also other’s life. They will speak life or death to ourself but also to our children and their children. Therefore it is important that we balance our thoughts and choose our words rightly. Do not be afraid to ask help to God to find the right words to use. God can give us grace even when we are stressed and overwhelmed, that our children never take the below from our words.

Habits, attitude, action and reaction

Mary Magdalene, in a dramatic 19th-century popular image of penitence painted by Ary Scheffer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We should know that we as creatures of habit, we continually return to what we know. For lots of people the unknown frightens them. Though that we do know is not always the safe place. Sometimes, that is a place of discomfort or sadness or frustration. Sometimes, it is the easy place to be, or the one that keeps us financially stable or under the radar. Sometimes it is not that a situation can’t be changed; it is more that we lack the courage to make change happen. There is risk involved.

Often we can see what is happening but do not dare to react. Often we are afraid for reactions of others. As Christians we should know what is good and what is bad and should dare to speak for what is going wrong. But the way we are going to react is very important and for this we can counsel God first in prayer. Though perhaps there can be lots of things outside ourselves which we can not control, but our inner self, our own being we should be able to control and let it to be guided by God’s Wisdom.

Taking on Christ’s attitude

Always remember that the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands when everything goes all right and when you feel comfortable. It is when problems arise that mostly the character of a person comes into the light. In times of problems, challenge and controversy, you have to have self-control and be a worthy follower of Christ, willing to take on his attitude in such circumstances. If you feel you can not tackle it on your own, than is the time ripe to take up prayer. Inner conflict are often the termites of disobedience, so than it is high time to show obedience to God and show your love to His other creatures, not sowing bad things but good things of which you later shall have no regret.

Giving time to the Most Important One

Spending time with God is special whether if “feels” intimate or not and whether I get goosebumps or not. It’s simply great to spend time with the Most High Lord of the lord of lords! In your prayers God always should be your hope.

You can spend time with God with your actions as well with your words.

Switching off your autopilot you can be with your mind with God from the moment you are awake. When standing up, washing yourself, you can take a moment to stop in your mind for a second, while your autopilot does the daily actions, you let your spirit wander into the Hands of God. When you eat your meal, you can savour it, thinking about the taste, texture even temperature, and take time to enjoy that what God gives you daily. On your route to work/school you can look up at the sky, feel the sun, the wind on your face, take time as it were to smell the flowers (metaphorically or in reality if at all possible).

Also at work you can take moments of meditation or prayer. At your desk, take a few deep breaths, then try and notice a few (e.g.five) things you can hear, see and touch and five body sensations you are experiencing. This is one perfect way to de-stress.

Moments for you and God

Several times in the day you should take a moment for yourself and to stretch in a quite space, taking note on how it makes your body feel, where the tension is in your body which you can focus on and breathe into.

Perhaps you think you will loose a lot of precious time that way. But it isn’t. You shall be able to recharge. These moments of meditation and prayer aren’t meant to last a long time,

30 seconds can sometimes be all it takes. Of course if you want to spend a bit longer doing it, by all means do so! {6 Ways to be More Mindful}

You shall not always be able to succeed to have a good meditation or a good chat with the Higher Being. Taking time for yourself and in that time daring to put yourself away from the busy world is not easy. when you feel not happy with your previous meditation session or prayer time, do not find an excuse than to have further delays. Take it as

when you have blown your planned diet or abandoned your exercise routine; when you have ventured down a path that feels like a waste of your time, energy, and talents; when you feel you have betrayed yourself in some way by not following through on your higher intentions; whenever you veer off course or are derailed by some setback, rather than mercilessly beat yourself up about it, rather than bludgeon yourself with self-criticism that only leaves you depressed and demoralized, you can recognize the fact that you’ve wandered from your desired path, identify what happened (and what you might do differently the next time, if it’s yours to do), and then take the opportunity to gently and lovingly collect yourself, redirect yourself, and…

Begin again. {Begin Again}

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Preceding articles:

1. Our openness to being approachable
2. Natural inclinations and Praying and asking
3. Always rejoicing Praying constantly Giving thanks for everything
4. Psalm 66 HRV
5. Psalm 66 OJB
6. Praying and acts of meditation without ceasing

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Additional reading:

1. The business of this life
2. People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
3. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
4. God should be your hope
5. God is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him
6. Looking for True Spirituality 8 Measuring Up
7. Philosophy hand in hand with spirituality
8. Fragments from the Book of Job #6: chapters 38-42
9. Getting fate in your change to positiveness
10. A Story of the Soldier and a Spider
11. Running away from the past
12. Walking alone?
13. Preaching to an unbelieving world
14. Control your destiny or somebody else will
15. Malefactors becoming your master
16. Control and change
17. Know Who goes with us and don’t try to control life
18. Wednesday Talk: Favorite Scripture: Rejoice always
19. Tapping into God’s Strength by Waiting on Him
20. God is the strength of my heart
21. The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
22. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience
23. A man who cannot forgive others
24. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
25. Patience is the ability to count down before blasting off
26. Your struggles develop your strengths
27. Be ye angry and sin not
28. He who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger
29. Unconditional love
30. Love will cure more sins than condemnation
31. Careful what you sow, it might grow
32. Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness
33. Angry but not sinning
34. Kindness
35. Be kinder than necessary
36. A treasure which can give me everything I need
37. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #1 Kings Faith
38. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #2 Calling upon the Name of God
39. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #6 Words to feed and communicate
40. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #9 Prayer #7 Reason to pray
41. God is my refuge and my fortress in Him I will trust

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Find also to read:

1. Serenity. Courage. Wisdom.
2. Do you want your direction to be more clear?
3. 6 Ways to be More Mindful
4. Benefits of Meditation ☮
5. In Search of the Winter Sun
6. Work with Thoughts
7. It Sounds Very Simple!
8. Begin Again
9. Inside My Head
10. The Understanding of Dee and Meditation
11. The Spiritual Treatment of Anxiety
12. A Prayer for Starting Over
13. A Prayer for New Beginnings
14. Self Discipline

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