"Can you hear me?.... GOOD!"

    This week in the Bible, we see the beginning of a pattern. Yesterday was all about preparing ourselves through doing good works for the Kingdom of God. That if we do not actually come out of ourselves and do something to help those in need, or to actually make our faith a VERB (Living it out) we will not get into the Kingdom of Heaven! Well today we find out that God actually wants us to talk to Him! Sounds simple enough to just pick up the phone and call Him on a daily basis to just let Him know we are thinking of Him or just wanting to tell Him about our day, BUT why is it not that simple?

   Why is prayer so hard? Is it because we are so busy? We have to get a few more minutes of sleep in? We do not know how to pray? Is it because it is not the coolest thing to talk about at school or at the work cooler? These reasons, although the normal, are really a complete load of crap in terms of not answering the phone call you receive every morning from God. Think about when you are standing before God and He says: "(Insert Your Name) why did you never answer when I was wanting to talk to you everyday?" Are you really wanting to look God in the eyes and say "I was too busy", "I was too tired", "I don't know how too." (This one, I can only see valid if you have never been to Church or to any kind of religion class or CCD) or how about "I didn't talk to you because everyone else would think I am not cool." See what I mean? Everything we do here on earth will dictate our invite into the eternal feast of Heaven! Even not praying.

    Now I am not saying I am the greatest at praying. In fact, there are days where I really struggle with prayer. Some weeks I pray everyday and some I am lucky if I pray 1 or 2 days. Think about it this way! You have friends here on earth, well, what is the best way to gain friends? You talk to them, you learn about what they like and do not like, you ask for advice in certain situations, you spend time with them, etc. The same thing works with God! How will you really get to know who God is in your life if you do not spend anytime with Him? So how do we pray?

    To begin Blessed Pope John Paul 2 says: "How to pray? This is a simple matter, pray however you like so long as you are praying." Really there is no wrong way to pray, unless you are not being the person God has created you to be. That is all Jesus is saying today when He says: "In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." All Jesus is saying is to be yourself in prayer! Talk the way you normally talk, prayer is not some performance to be done or heard in front of the world! It is to be your own personal conversation! Prayer should never become about making you famous or noticed above anyone else because that is putting yourself over God! Prayer is always about God and it is always started by God! You simply receive and answer the invite! Prayer should be a natural conversation that you are having with the one person that knows how you are really feeling and knows what you need to overcome any hardship! That is who God is.... the person who actually knows "How you are feeling or what you are going through."

    So today, take a couple minutes out of your day and speak to God. If you are angry or upset, then tell Him that you are. If you are excited and overjoyed, well then tell Him. God is with you in everything even when you do not ask Him to be. He loves you too much not to be there. Speak to God on a real level today and tell Him where you are at in your relationship with Him, you will not hurt His feelings, He already knows! Praise God, Ask for Forgiveness, Tell Him your Petitions, and LISTEN to what He has to say to you! This is the outline that we have been given from Jesus through the "Our Father"... I challenge you to pray this way for the rest of Lent and see if you can begin to really hear God's voice by Easter, because I bet He will speak to your heart!