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Praying Hands - Are You Using Yours Correctly?
Do you find prayer intimidating? Have you ever said,"I don't know how to pray"? If so, you may besurprised to learn that there is no "right" or "wrong"method of prayer. Nor is prayer reserved for a handfulof religious professionals. Prayer is the act of offering reverent petition to Godand an expression of the commitment and trust we havein God by faith. Matthew 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter intothy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray tothy Father which is in secret; and thy Father whichseeth in secret shall reward thee openly. When we come before God in prayer and give Him fullcontrol of a situation, we are acknowledging Hisability to bring about a change in that area of our orsomeone elses life. Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall askin prayer, believing, ye shall receive. As a result, God begins to work on the problem withHis all mighty, all knowing, everlasting power. Over the years prayer has not received the recognitionthat it deserves. Many people feel since God already knows about ourneeds, there isn't any need to tell God about them. This could turn out to be a very costly mistake! While it's true God knows about and is involved inevery area of our life, its also true He wants us tospecifically commit each of our concerns to Him sothat we will learn to depend on Him and His counsel. Perhaps you sometimes feel you have no one to turn towith your stress and struggles. It is not just a matter of having someone tounderstand, but of finding someone you can trust. But you can find reassurance in the fact that Godremains in control and takes care of His faithfulchildren. Prayer is one of the greatest contributions we canmake to improve our lives as well as the lives ofothers. Just pray, offering whatever you're thinking andfeeling to the Lord. Whatever you bring, it's a start. As you pray more regularly or more often, the usualexperience is that you start being more truthful inprayer, you start turning away from what you didwrong, your attitude becomes more confident, you starttaking the time to listen, you start looking for thesigns of divine response in your daily life, you starthungering to read the Scriptures, you start wanting topray with others, and you think less and less aboutyourself. You will soon find preparations and practices that mayhelp you be more open to God in prayer as you startletting the Holy Spirit change you. When we come in prayer we come as we are Sometimesscared, Sometimes needy, Sometimes empty, Sometimesbored, Sometimes furious, but we come. We come trusting that through prayer God can changeus, and can change the things that happen in our life. We come trusting that God is with us and builds us up,that the Holy Spirit prays with us and for us. We trust that the Lord will lead us to lose our anger,lead us to repentance, lead us to being open to theSpirit's voice, and lead us to love of God and of eachother. If you feel like a victim, you can pray to God,instead of irresponsibly allowing the circumstances oflife to overwhelm you. You can begin to take charge ofyour life by asking God for the power to make changes. Or maybe you live with unchangeable circumstances thateffect your life in a major way. From finding a spouse, to finding a job, from buildinga business, to building a life, People frequently prayfor God to bless their efforts with success and in asuccess driven society, people of faith often strugglewith the place and pursuit of success. Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer andsupplication in the Spirit, and watching thereuntowith all perseverance and supplication for all saints; God is more than ready to hear our complaints,appeals, desires and frustrations. Nothing is too bigor too small for the Lord not to take intoconsideration. Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving letyour requests be made known unto God. In closing I'll leave you with Jesus' instructions onprayer to His disciples. Matthew 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye:Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it isin heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Andforgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Andlead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and theglory, for ever. Amen. David Hopkins is a "Christian Article Writer" whospecializes in helping people remember to glorify Godin everything that they do, so they don't miss out onany of His wonderful blessings. Visit Daily Word Of GodGroup to read additional articles and to sign-upfor a free newsletter to learn everything you need toknow about why you should be putting God #1 in yourlife.
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One night I watched as a stupid woman stopped her car after these kids had thrown rocks at it. She got out and tried to confront the kids about what they had done. The result of course was that they found some bigger rocks and a couple of bricks. They made quite a mess of that car. My brother told me that he had witnessed a roll take place from the top of the street in broad daylight. Some boys had pulled a knife on a university student who had handed them his wallet. The student had then located a nearby policeman and had pointed out the boys to him, but the copper did nothing about it. He said he didn't want to start a riot! I had seen the bonfires that would be lit when the new phone books or Yellow Pages directories were delivered. I had seen the shells of burnt out cars in the street. I had seen plenty, and had plenty of good reasons to never deliberately venture down that street, which is why my first walk to the Mundine gym was like wading through water ? every step being a slow and deliberate effort. But I was determined to become a fighter, and I'd just as soon lose my life in Everleigh Street than give up on my dream to have my day in the ring. The exterior of Mundine's Gym is not designed to draw attention to itself. You'd walk right past it if you didn't know it was there. It's missing entirely that glittering windowed street frontage with the sleek bodies of well-groomed athletes on display for passers-by ? the type that we associate with the sorts of gyms where you pay a costly membership fee. Mundine's has no membership fee. I don't remember there even being a sign out the front. Mundine's looks like just another housing-commission block, with its inglorious entrance at the bottom of a stairwell. But you pick up that it's a gym long before you reach the top of those stairs. The smell of liniment hits you half way up ? that manly smell that mingles so harmoniously with the melodic whir of the skipping rope tap, tap, tapping its way through another round. This is what makes a real gym ? the smell of liniment, the sound of the rope, the less rhythmical thwacking of glove to bag, and of course the fighting. When you step inside Mundine's, you know you're in a real gym. No pretty boys. No glamour workouts. No white-collar boxercise sessions for indulgent professionals. Just bodies, sweat, testosterone and blood. They play hard at Mundine's. That's governed by the sort of guys that show up there of course, but it's also embedded in the architecture of the gym to some extent. The ring stands in the centre of the building and it's a small ring, made for brawlers. There is a small assortment of bags strung around the sides, but no fancy speedballs or floor-to-ceiling bags, such that you could justify turning up just to have a workout on the bags. There are a few pieces of weights equipment too, but again not enough to allow them to become a serious point of focus. No. The whole structure is designed to channel you into the ring. Everything else is just padding. That's the way it should be in a real gym. I wore my clerical shirt and collar the first time I went there. Even now I don't think it was an entirely stupid thing to have done. I wanted to be up-front about who I was and where I was coming from. Even so, I hadn't really thought through the effect that this was going to have on the other boys at the gym, most of whom were, initially, very reluctant to hit me. They got over it though, particularly after they realised that I had no qualms about hitting them. Within a couple of weeks I was coming home each night bruised and bleeding from head to toe, and I knew I was one of the lads. Is it just me, or does every man need to go through something like this at some time in his life ? to know the joy of falling into your bed aching with the wounds that your sparring partner has inflicted on you that evening, and sleeping soundly in the knowledge that your ring brother is likewise doing his best to sleep off the impression that you made on him? I had many a glorious sparring session during those first weeks and months at Mundine's. They weren't pretty to watch I suppose, but they were epic struggles of the human spirit so far as I was concerned. There are few things in life more deeply satisfying than a good fight. A hard night in the ring is an enormous catharsis for a man who is struggling with life, but it's more than that too. When you step into a ring you're making a decision to take control of your own destiny. The forces that oppose you are no longer vague powers that threaten to overwhelm you from a distance - the law, the courts, the system. No. Your opposition takes on a clear material form in the shape of the other man advancing on you from the other corner. To get into that ring and to stay in that ring is to make a decision to give it a go ? to put your body on the line and to stand up to the punishment like a man. Fighting is more than a sport. It's a way of life. It is the defiant decision to confront your pain directly and not to be overcome by it. Mundine's gym taught me that, or at least it played a significant role. There was another vital lesson I learnt at Mundine's - perhaps even more important than what I learned about fighting. I learnt to respect the fight community. The fight community is a culture all of its own, and was certainly spawned on an entirely different planet to the church community. I'm sure that some Anglican church-goers must have wondered why there are so many doctors and accountants in their congregations and so few fighters. The truth is that most church people just don't speak the same language as fighters. The converse is also true. The fight community, as far as I can see, has very little idea of what the church is on about. I don't mean that fighters aren't spiritual guys. On the contrary, some of the most godly and inspirational men I have met have been fighters. And yet they have no point of contact with the established church. The two groups just don't understand each other at all. Never was this made clearer to me than on my fourth visit to Mundine's gym. I had turned up quietly in my tracksuit and was wandering over to the bench at the side of the ring where we tended to leave our gear while we were training. A group of guys were huddled there talking, and there was nothing particularly private about the volume of their conversation. I think they were discussing relationship problems, though I didn't overhear everything. What I couldn't help hearing was one guy say very clearly 'So I grabbed her, and I punched her in the fuckin' head'. He said it loudly and enacted a downwards punching motion as he said it. Then he noticed me standing nearby and suddenly felt very self-conscious. 'Oh, sorry Father' he said. And then he corrected himself. 'I punched her ... (and he said it very slowly and deliberately) ... in the head'. If I'd had my wits about me that night I would have said something clever like 'I don't think the Lord really gives a fuck about your language brother, but I think He does care about your wife.' As it was, I didn't say anything. I think I responded with a feeble smile. At the time, I just couldn't work out how this guy had ever got it into his head that, as a priest, I would be more concerned about the fact that he swore than I would be about the fact that he beat his wife? Nowadays I take that sort of perception for granted. I think it's the church that has to bear the responsibility for the communication breakdown. So much of the church nowadays reeks of a sort of insipid middle-class moralism that really does care more about smoking and swearing than it does about domestic violence or world hunger. I don't think the Lord Jesus or St Paul ever intended to spawn any of these Christianized golf clubs that call themselves churches. Personally, I suspect that Jesus and the apostles would feel more at home in the average boxing gym today than they would in the average church. Of course they wouldn't like the threats and the violence, but they would love the honesty. Fighters are very honest people. One guy, again from the Mundine gym, summed it up for me. 'Around here nobody stabs anybody in the back', he said to me. Then he pointed to his heart and added emphatically: 'You stab here!' That's why I have so much respect for the fight culture. I know I can trust fighters. I know they won't stuff me round ? smiling to my face but stabbing me in the back when I turn around. I wish the same could be said for all church people. St Paul was a fighter. 'I do not fight like a man beating the air' he says. They had the ancient Pankration fighting in his day ? a vicious form of no rules combat that was concluding event in the original Olympics. Those guys certainly didn't 'beat the air'. When Ulysses came home from the Trojan War, legend has it that his own mother didn't recognise him. According to my friend and former trainer Kon, legend has it that when the Pankration champion came home from the Olympic Games, his own dog couldn't recognise him! Those guys knew what real fighting is about. St Paul would have made one tough bugger as a fighter. What I wouldn't give to be able to jump into the old Pankration ring with him to go a couple of rounds! You'd never knock him down though. I suspect most of the apostles would have been like that ? warm big-hearted men, but as hard as nails in the ring. I have a secret hope that when I get to heaven I'll be able to take on some of those boys and try my luck. I guess it's not everyone's idea of heaven, but it is mine. The Right of Passage The Right of Passage. by Rev. Anthony Smith Living Without Blueprints Some people look at the biblical book of Revelation as a blueprint for the end of time. It tells exactly when the end will come, how it will come and who will be punished when it happens. Those with this perspective buy up apocalyptic fiction like the "Left Behind" series and confidently pronounce that we are in the "end times." They may even associate certain modern day figures or happenings with supposed end-of-times events. There are three basic problems with this perspective: (1) It is counter to the pronouncements of Jesus himself; (2) It ignores the long history of people who have tried to use Revelation in this way; and (3) It is counter to the nature of faith itself. Let's look at these three problem areas more closely. Resurrection Faith (Part 2) Christ died. This is a historical fact not to be denied. But it is the claim of the apostle Paul that God showed His love for us through Christ dying for sinners; this is interesting. It is interesting because we wonder what was it that encouraged Paul to believe that Jesus' death was for sinners. He could not "see" the love of God at work. Jesus had been stabbed in the back and abandoned by His disciples. His mother and a few women, together with John stood by watching Him die. Near the cross, soldiers gambled. One thief cursed God and man. The other prayed as he died. But who of those around the cross watching Jesus die was suddenly overtaken with a great sense of God's love? Who testified about how much God loved them? Religion has Served Its Usefulness for Mankind As the world becomes closer and closer together, there seems to be a problem with the World's religions. It is time to close them down. The hypocrisy in all religions is unnerving and shows a complete beak down of mankind's mental capacity and inability to cope with the current projected reality. Where is God? Where is God? This is the question most often heard when things are not going right in our lives or we hear of senseless fatalities or extreme injustices. But I pose this question today because I cannot find Him in ways that I could when I was growing up. Reflections After The Tsunami Tragedy Over the last few months hundreds of thousands of people have reached out with genuine concern and hard cash towards the people of SE Asia. The tsunami was no respecter of a person's religion in an area where Muslims and Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, have been killed or traumatised. Our respective religions are an integral part of our self identity but so is the common spirituality that we share as human beings. Surely now is the time to reach out in a new way, with the same love and respect, in order to get to know one another better. Integral to this process is getting to know more about our different religions and learning how to honour each one. We need shared sacred space to help do this. The Basics of the Christian Walk Now that I am saved, what do I do next? That is a very common question for people who have just recently got saved. I recently read that 50% of all people who get saved drop out within the first year or two. The Blessings Of God As discussed in the "The Gospel of Convenience", and "Investing Christian" articles here on this site, American Christianity teaches that money, possessions, stock market holdings, "toys" and all manner of material possessions are "the blessings of God". We too used to accept this as truth. We have recently been convicted by the Holy Spirit , and instructed by God, to speak out against this principal as a heresy, and a deception of the Devil, that it has taken some 30 - 40 years for our enemy to foster into church doctrine. We have encountered some truly amazing responses in this endeavor, in the form of, in some cases, condemnation from fellow Christians. We have been told we are "lost", "out there", "unthankful to God".
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