In relation to God we are always in a position of response. But we would accede, in our pride, to the position of the initiator. We are habitually self-focused. Part of this condition is our preoccupation with what we do and achieve. This flows from our god-complex from which comes our identity building compulsion. Our achievements and abilities become the constituent parts of our false autonomous selves. And religious achievements have always been the crowning glory of our self-idolisation. We might pray and worship because it makes us feel good about ourselves. We might in fact be strenuously religious and moral for the same reason. But life is not meant to be like that. We were made to live in confluence with what God is doing. We don’t initiate. We respond. We are not to be defined by our actions for him, but by his actions for and in us. God is building us into himself, parts of his body, the sacred temple of his Holy Spirit. To respond to God means surrendering to the flow of his will, as we might surrender to the powerful current of a great river. But such a posture of worship goes against our autonomous inclinations from which only God can save us. To pray to God, you need God. Prayer is not a difficult religious task to surmount. Prayer is not difficult at all. It’s impossible. Only God can create true prayer. So, if you stop thinking about yourself, and seek his help, you’ll get off to a good start.
Ask God to teach you how to pray.
Read Matthew 6:1-14.
