Spiritual Formation
Reflection Paper VII
Conversational Prayer
1. We would all want to affirm that prayer is an essential part of Christian discipline. Why is it then, that many of us find prayer so difficult?
Yes, as it is described in the reflection question I have no problem in understanding the necessity of prayer for the well being of my Christian journey. However, like other Christian discipline prayer is also simple from theoretical point of view but very challenging to be implemented practically. There are many reasons why it so. Among the many reasons the followings are worth mentioning:
Firstly, as prayer is our main communication line with our God it is highly targeted to be attacked by Satan. It is through prayer that I come to understand the will and agendas of our God by the help of Holy Spirit. And if I do so without any problem there will not be any room in my life for Satan to deceive and cheat me in any aspect of life. That in turn makes me an effective, fruitful and Christ-like son of God. Because of this very reason Satan tries to the best of his effort to create obstacles in various forms in order to disrupt my communication line with the Lord my God. This is to say in short that there is a spiritual warfare in the spiritual realm and unless Satan’s work is abolished by the Grace of God it is impossible to get an open heaven and enjoyable communication with God.
Secondly, it is my weak human nature that makes prayer so challenging to be practice consistently in a regular and effective manner. When I say my weak human nature it is to refer to my sinful nature which is subjected to various temptations now and then. Naturally it is simple and comfortable to my nature to be busy with something productive and unproductive than seeking the Lord’s face through prayer. Deep in my nature there is always a tendency not to pray than pray. There is the desire to pray but not the energy. It is as the apostle Paul stated in Romans 7:15...