Consider this. What if you had someone in your life who knows you so intimately, that He knows all of your gifts and talents, faults and failings? He knows you so well and has so much experience that He knows what you should be doing with your life… what your purpose is, how your gifts should be leveraged. He loves you so much that He doesn’t care if or how much you fail, always there for you, helping pick you back up and learn lessons of life. Lastly, this person loves you so much that He spends endless time with you, relentlessly investing, daily helping, virtually guaranteeing you success.
After presenting the above, I ask “who would like to spend as much time with this person as possible?” I then add, “I have some bad news and some good news”.
- The bad news first…there’s not a person on this earth who meets that criteria. No one.
- The good news…the only One who can do that for you is the person of Jesus Christ, God His Father, and the Holy Spirit, who dwells in each of us.
We just established how much God loves you, how He knows you better than anyone else, and is always there for you…all loving, all knowing, ever present. The way we talk to God, availing ourselves to His love, mercy, wisdom, and grace is through Prayer, which is critical to our living a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment.
I’d like to share some things about prayer that changed my life. I’ve always said rote prayers, first learning the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be prior to my First Communion, if memory serves me. To that list I’ve added the Serenity Prayer and a prayer I wrote in 2009 titled, Thank you God, Thank you Jesus. The difference between then and now is how I say them. Always starting with the Our Father, I often have to repeat it several times to slow my mind. I then pray through each of those prayers very slowly, hanging on and praying through every single word. My prayer life has changed in praying this way. BTW, in terms of the time it takes, I do it in the shower every morning.
I give credit to Dynamic Catholic’s Matthew Kelly for this next prayer tip. He refers to it as the Classroom of Silence, 10 minutes a day. He suggests taking Jesus a challenge, an issue, or a desire, something that you want help with. You then fully explain it to Him, detailing the alternatives you’re considering. You articulate all your ideas, listing the pros and cons. Then ask, “Lord, what should I do?” Sit in silence and you’ll be surprised at the results. It’s worked for me for a long time now.
With so many ways to pray, the above is just a sampling. You choose what’s best for you. Happy to provide you with additional options if you’re interested. The thing to remember is this…God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done. More so than anyone in human history, God loves you, knows you, and is always there for you. It is only in going to Him, availing ourselves to His love, mercy, grace, and wisdom, that we can live true lives of peace, joy, and fulfillment.
As always, please email me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com with questions, concerns, comments, or prayer requests.
God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
Remember…God made you for Greatness!!!
Mark Joseph