I always thought it was easy to remember the four ways that we need to balance our prayer by thinking of the word TRAP or Thanksgiving, Repentance, Adoration, and Petition. Too many times our prayer centers on "petition." We think that God is a vending machine and if we contribute a certain number of prayers then everything will be okay. A friend of mine made a good point the other day:
"Why do you expect a million dollar answer to your one penny prayer?"
If all we are doing is asking God for things, then we are missing out on the fullness of prayer that God wants to give us.
Thanksgiving is the type of prayer that is easy when we are sitting around a turkey with grandma and reflecting on the last year and how cool it is that we are Americans and we own everything so God must "bless" us. What about thanking God for our trials?
For the times we are caught in traffic.
For the times we are annoyed with someone.
When we are confronted with a situation that seems to have no answer.
Where adoration meant acknowledging the power of God, thanksgiving is living in the spirit of gratefulness for all the good and all the ways that God allows the difficult moments in our lives to mold us. This is where the book of Job can be so helpful. Nothing is as frustrating to satan as us turning his moment of supposed triumph into a prayer.
Thank God for your crosses, for today Jesus has made it obvious what you need to do as you follow Him.
Repentance is the ability to recognize that we have done something wrong. That we have gone against the law of the Creator, the one who made us.
Can you express real sorrow for your sin? Can you admit that you did something wrong or has your pride continued to get in the way?
There are so many people who do not turn to God because they are afraid that if they do then they are going to have things that they did wrong shoved in their face. The contrary is actually the truth. It is only when we repent of what we have done wrong that we can allow God to heal us so that those things can never be thrown in our faces again.
If you are looking to be healed of past sin, then Repentance is the way to go. You need to first understand and have a sense of Thanksgiving. In giving thanks to God we understand that we have not lived up to the gifts that we have received from the Creator. When we understand that then we can repent from our sins by bringing them to God.
You know what Adoration is, even if you have never thought about it in prayer. Adoration is what happened with Romeo and Juliet. Adoration is that sense of not being able to stop loving the adored.
To simply praise, pure and perfect, with nothing in the way of your soul's reach for God.
This is such a simple concept that becomes very complicated in the application.
To simply sit or kneel before God and to acknowledge that there is a greater power than yourself is adoration. To pray to God and simply let the phrases that acknowledge His greatness is adoration. To be before the Almighty in silence and to allow your soul to reach up to God, to long for that Divine is adoration.
To allow your heart to be still so that you can simply love God is adoration. To just take a moment to dwell upon the greatness of God and what He has done for you is adoration.
Today, focus on adoring God. Acknowledging God. Putting God in His right place, above all creation. Giving Him the credit that He deserves in your life.
To adore God is to submit yourself to Him. That is to take the one gift that God will never take from you, your free will, and return it to God, letting Him know that you submit to what He created you for.
What about petition? It is often the most common form of prayer for we are most aware of the God-shaped hole that is in our hearts when we need something, when we are at our lowest.
It is important to recognize that we need to recognize that our hope is in Christ. When we are able to bring our needs to God then we recognize that God is a God who provides. His will may be different from ours, but we need to present our needs and the needs of others to Him.
Present these prayers in the same way that Mary presented the situation at Cana to Jesus.
"They have no wine."
She didn't tell him what to do. She simply presented the situation.
Present the situation. Don't tell God what to do.
He knows what is best.
Questions for Reflection:
- Which of the four ways of prayer outlined above do you see yourself focusing on the most? Why?
- Which of the four types of prayer is most UNDERutilized by the people around you? How might you encourage that type of prayer a little more in your own life?
- Given the different types of prayer that are available to us, which one do you need to focus on more in order to balance out? If you had to give a percentage number to the different types of prayer, which ranking would each have?
- "Why do you expect a million dollar answer to your one-penny prayer?" Does this question apply to you in your own life? Why or why not?
- What are some things that you can give thanks for in your life that may not be typical things that people would give thanks for?
- Make two lists of five points each and the five points are going to be these, five people that need your prayers and what they need prayers for. Five things in your life that you need God's help with. They need to be concrete things, not abstract "attitudes" or "thoughts".
- When you make these lists, you need to keep the lists on you. A friend of mine one wrote all the intercessions he had for the day on his hand. This way he would remember to pray for that person until it washed off. This might be a good practice for you. Maybe you know a different one?
- Spend time in Eucharistic Adoration. If you cannot find a way to make that happen, spend about 10 minutes each day in Adoration of the Creator of the Universe. Just allow yourself to adore the God of the Universe.
- Make a list of ten things that you have to say that you are sorry for. Write them down, put them on a list. Take some time and go to Confession, but the important aspect is your attitude of repentance. Be humble and willing to submit yourself to God, offering your apologies and forgiveness where needed.
- Write a prayer that includes all four of the types of prayer. Incorporate your own journey towards sainthood in this prayer. Share it with a friend.
Our Father:
Our Father, who art in heave, hallow'd be your name. They kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, amen.
