The power of prayer can change the world, says Kimi Kovacs of the Sion Community.
I have always struggled with prayer. Either with not having time for it, or not knowing how to pray or what to say in prayer. I remember the first thing I asked God, after I came to know Him personally, was to help me pray.
I had no idea how to do that. How do I start? What does He want to hear? What do I want to say?
The Deepest Kind of Intimacy
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines prayer as “the raising of one’s mind and heart to God” (CCC 2559). What does that mean?
In my opinion, it means intimacy, the deepest kind. Sometimes I find it difficult to share my thoughts and feelings with my best friend or my parents and they should be easy to share these things with.
However, sharing myself can prove difficult when I hardly know myself how I feel or what I think.
Fortunately, God knows me through and through, so when He invites me to a deep relationship with Him, He invites me to share the chaos, the joy, the thankfulness, the pain and even the anger that delves within me sometimes.
He invites my heart to beat at the same pace as His. That is prayer to me.
Of course, our day-to-day prayer time can be- and is-a lot less romantic than how I have described.
However, remembering the truth that I am known and loved helps me keep going. There are also other things that keep the fire going:
Rhythm and Seasons
Every day I try to sit down and pray at the same time, so this gives rhythm to my day and keeps me focused. Also, I try and give God the same amount of time each day.
It is great to acknowledge that, as nature has seasons and cycles, so does our prayer life. We need to change the way we pray according to the season we are in.
For instance, if we experience that we are often distracted, maybe it is worth trying journaling and writing our prayers down to help us keep focused. Or if we are in a dry season, set prayers like the rosary or the prayer of the Church, the Divine Office, can help us carry on.
The Helper
The biggest helper I have found with prayer is the Holy Spirit Himself. We read in the letter to the Romans that we don’t know how to pray and that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness with “sighs too deep for words” (Rom 8: 26).
I have found the gift of tongues to be a great gift in times when I don’t know how to pray or when I have run out of words. God, who knows the depths of my heart, knows exactly what I need.
I just need to say “yes’ to His Holy Spirit.
The Heartbeat of Relationship
So all in all, why do we pray? We pray because God is listening and He loves to hear our prayer. We pray because conversation is the heartbeat of relationship. We pray because our world is broken and our words can change it. And ultimately, we pray because Jesus taught us to pray and never give up.
Taken from How to host a 24-7 prayer room by 24-7 prayer.
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