PRAYER #3: WHEN DO WE PRAY?

• Some religions provide guidance and rules not only on how to pray, but also on when to pray. Generally speaking such rules do not exist in Christian faith (Protestantism so to speak). Since Christianity is not a ritual-based-faith, a prayer is completely different from a ritual responsibility. We cannot count the number of words in our prayers to determine the weight of our prayers. Prayers cannot be measured by how many hours we spend in speaking to and listening from God. Our spirituality cannot be scored based on the frequency of our prayers. One minute prayer or one hour prayer costs the whole life of us. Prayers are not simply tiny part of our lives. Prayers are our very whole lives. When a prayer stands simply as a little part of our lives, our prayers become ceremonial; therefore our faith will be a ritual-faith.

• When should we pray then? Ritually, it is up to us. God is open 24 Hours 7 Days a week. How many times should we pray in a day? Ritually, it is up to us. As stated above, our spirituality is not determined by the number of minutes we spend in our prayers. Again, however, a prayer is neither ritual nor ceremonial programmatic activity in Christian faith. Even the shortest prayer of us costs the whole life of us. The life of the faithful is therefore the life of prayer. Things that are seen in our activities and our speeches therefore represent things that are unseen in our intimacy with God in our prayers. Do remember that the quality of our lives will never exceed the quality of our prayers. One said, 'The secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer' (the Kneeling Christian). Allow me subsequently to add to that quote, 'The secret of all victory is our victory in secret prayer' (Prasadja, January 2011).