{"id":7294,"date":"2021-10-02T11:11:26","date_gmt":"2021-10-02T01:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=7294"},"modified":"2021-10-02T11:11:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-02T01:11:28","slug":"pray-always-and-do-not-lose-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/pray-always-and-do-not-lose-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Pray Always and do not Lose Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Pray Always and do not Lose Heart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated from a sermon by Fr Louka Sidarous<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Do you think that God\ncannot hear you calling on Him, day and night? Of course He hears you! He\nhears, but He is long suffering with you; with us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God has a plan, He\nalways has a plan. More times than not, it is very different to the plan we\nhave in our minds. We are often distracted by our temporal life on Earth to see\nthe bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All we see is the one\nproblem in front of us, but there is so much more! There is so much more to\nGod\u2019s plan for our lives. When we think of what troubles our minds – work,\nschool, family. But do we ever stop to think, what troubles God\u2019s mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My salvation – that\nis His biggest concern. What God plans for my salvation does not always match\nwhat I want for myself. Not every plan I make is relevant to salvation.\nSometimes His plan does not match the needs that I feel I need or see as\nnecessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we become closer\nto God, and when our will begins to align with His will, we see the bigger\npicture clearly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is He silent? In\nterms of prayer, we know that He always listens to our prayers. The prophet\nsays, \u201cFor the oppression of the poor, for\nthe sighing of the needy. Now I will arise,\u201d says the Lord<\/em>\u201d (Ps 12:5). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\nis telling us that He hears our cry. He sees and hears. There is a bigger plan,\nand there is time to achieve much greater than the problems we see before us.\nMy timing is not the same and my plans are not the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abraham\ncould have had Isaac just as any other person would have a son. But why delay\nit for one hundred years? Zacharias the Priest and Elizabeth waited for years\nand heard nothing. Hannah, the mother of Samuel the prophet, only gave birth\nafter pouring her heart out before God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis always a bigger plan. Our submission to God, and our prayers for God\u2019s will\nabove our own will, give us peace in any tribulation. There is no need to\nworry, for I know His plans, I know His timing, and I know that all His plans\nare in wisdom. It is all for my salvation. All my tribulation, all my\nsuffering, all my persecution are counted. There is nothing that our Lord\nmisses in His plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nwe pray, we strive to pray with hands of the beggar. The beggar stretches and\nreceives. If the beggar keeps his hands in his pockets, how can he receive\nanything? If a man stretches out his hands, he begs. But when does man beg?\nWhen he is in need. When he has no other option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nwe are comfortable where we are, why would we feel the need to beg? All is well,\nwe are not in need. When one feels their weakness and their needs, and stands\nbefore God, poor and needy, waiting for His refuge, for He is the only source\nof refuge, then he knows how to pray. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nman cries to God, \u201cSave me! I am scared of losing my salvation, my eternal\nlife. I am busy with cares of the world.  Help Lord, for the godly man\nceases!\u201d<\/em> (Ps 12:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbattle around me is great. The chances of salvation are slim and slipping away.\nEvil has spread and it feels like the world is polluted. All so we can exit the\nworld unscathed and unharmed by the turmoil of this life. It is difficult to\nattain eternal life without enduring tribulation in this life. I need prayer!\nAnd I need tribulation to drive my prayers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything\nrevolves around salvation, but does this limit our prayers to salvation only?\nAre we not to pray about things of the world? Certainly not! \u201cAsk, and it\nwill be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to\nyou. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who\nknocks it will be opened<\/em>\u201d (Matthew 7:8-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nwe pray however, we do not forget that salvation comes first; \u201cBut seek\nfirst the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be\nadded to you\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 6:33). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmatter needs prayer. It needs struggle. For there is no need for the one that\nis not struggling. Prayer with deeds, and prayer from the heart. \u201cFor what\nwill it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?\u201d<\/em>\n(Matthew 8:36).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glory\nbe to God forever Amen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pray Always and do not Lose Heart Translated from a sermon by Fr Louka Sidarous Do you think that God cannot hear you calling on Him, day and night? Of course He hears you! He hears, but He is long suffering with you; with us all. God has a plan, He always has a plan. … Continue reading “Pray Always and do not Lose Heart”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7296,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294\/revisions\/7296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}