persistent

Homily - 25/10/09 The priest asked how persistent are you when you pray? He said, praying is a form of begging. So when you pray, beg as if your life depends on it. Everything has its time, for our own good and in God's will.
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from my inbox:
“God never answers my prayers. In fact, I cannot recall a single prayer of mine that God has answered specifically.”Several others in the group chimed in and said, “Neither can I.” So we turned to this passage and discussed it together. Would God lie to us? Is His Word trustworthy? Or is prayer an exercise in futility? Are we simply talking to ourselves and each other, or is there a God who hears and answers? If so, why have these not had their prayers answered?

First of all, we had to review the qualifications for prayer. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My Word abides in you, ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” The Scripture also says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” So if we expect to have our prayers answered, Jesus Christ must be the Lord of our lives. There must be no unconfessed sin in our lives and we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Further, 1 John 5:14,15 reminds us: “If we ask anything according to God’s will, He hears us and answers,” so we must be sure that we are praying according to the Word of God. As we pray, the Spirit of God impresses upon us certain things for which to pray specifically, such as the salvation of a friend, the healing of a body or a financial need. If the prayer is offered with a pure motive and according to God’s will, we can expect an answer to it.

And we cannot pray casually. We must enter into an expectant spirit of prayer, knowing that, when we meet His conditions, God will hear and answer us.

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Since Saturday, I've been looking for a bible, yeah I know this is Arab country, such a hardheaded I searched every store, I can't ask the saleslady, I might offend her. Oh well, yesterday, I went to the church, I can't find someone who can tell me if there's a shop in the premises that sells rosary, prayer books and of course the bible. Years ago, someone told me that you shouldn't buy a bible, it should be gift from somebody else. Hmmmm... If I'll wait for someone to give me a gift, maybe it will take years, hehe. I'm trying my luck again this weekend. Hopefully! If not then I'll ask my bf to buy and send it to me, *wink*