Today's blog/devotional thingy is about prayer. No, I'm not getting into the whole "prayer should be done this way or else you're going to hell" argument (although there's a good possibility that I might in another blog post), but trust me, this subject is no less convicting (though a bit less annoying). I'll admit I'm stealing this from Kevin, the guy who lead our Sunday School today, but let's face it--it's a good lesson, so plagiarism is fine enough.
Let me ask you--do you pray with your eyes open, or closed? Keep thinking about your answer to that as you read this blog--your answer might (or might not) change.
God calls us to pray in two ways--with our eyes open and with our eyes closed. First, let me explain what it means to pray with our eyes closed. In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gives us the Lord's Prayer, which is an OUTLINE of a good prayer. For future reference, it is NOT the "perfect prayer" that we should all adhere to and recite multiple times upon certain occasions as some cultures are wont to do. Making an incantation out of a tool that Jesus gave us to help us pray shows a horrendous display of ignorance and disrespect.
...*breathes* Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Anyway...
In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gives us the Lord's Prayer. Notice how it is structured: the beginning half is focused entirely upon God--praising Him, exalting Him, and praying that His will be done on Earth--and the second half is supplication and thanksgiving (yes, I'm referencing the acronym ACTS. What can I say--I'm uncreative). This is what I mean by praying "with your eyes closed"--focusing on God. A "closed-eyes" prayer is a more personal one, the kind of prayer you say around the dinner table or before you go to bed.
(Sidenote: At no point in the Bible {at least, not as far as I'm aware} is it ever said "pray with your eyes open". In fact, the only point at which the Bible refers to "eyes" in this manner is in Hebrews 12:1-2 "Fix your eyes on Jesus", referring, of course, to your spiritual eyes, since, obviously, your eyes would burn out of your sockets if you were to look directly at Jesus, due to the whole divinity thing)
Now an "opened-eyes" prayer is a much different song to sing. I think John 4:35 shows us best what this type of prayer is: "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest." With an "opened-eyes" prayer, we are supposed to look at the world and perceive it through eyes developed in a relationship with Christ. This might be kind of hard to understand, so let me use an analogy:
Let's look at a baby. While in the womb, it is not ready to face the outside world. It could not function well--it is still growing and getting nutrition from its mother (like we are in "closed-eyes" prayer). However, when the baby is born into the world, its body parts are now strong enough to withstand the birthing process. After it is born the baby continues to grow until, gradually, its body parts are strong and mature enough to face the world (an "open-eyes" prayer).
Naturally, this analogy isn't perfect, but the point is made--when you pray with "closed eyes", you are praying so that you can worship God fully, and by doing so grow in your relationship with Him. Then when you pray with "open eyes", you are mature enough in your faith to pray for the world and to recognize God's work in it.
I hope this has struck home with you as much as it has with me, dear reader. I also hope we all can recognize the difference between the two types of prayer and have the discernment to figure out what we need to improve on.
Have a great summer, y'all!
--CommanderSnowball
Oh, I almost forgot:
Did you know? Leif Ericson Day is an actual holiday? It's on October 9th...I had no idea...
Other Bible Verses Pertaining to the Same Subject (thanks, Kevin):
Closed Eyes:
Oh, I almost forgot:
Did you know? Leif Ericson Day is an actual holiday? It's on October 9th...I had no idea...
Other Bible Verses Pertaining to the Same Subject (thanks, Kevin):
Closed Eyes:
Opened Eyes:
No comments:
Post a Comment