First Degree of Prayer

Good Monday Morning!

Today I'm going to talk a little bit about the First Degree of Prayer: Strength. Mother says, "It comes when you begin to realize that God is your Father and you've got this vacuum in your heart."

We take all of our sins, frustrations, fears, and bring them to Him. We realize that we don't have as much control over our lives as we thought we did. It takes strength to "give in" to Him and His will. It's hard for us to feel like we don't have any control. So that takes a certain degree of strength. And when we pray, our prayers turn into what He wants, instead of what we want.

I was just explaining this to my daughter today. Have you ever said, "I had such a good idea!!" Of course we have! Well, was that your idea or God's? It's God's. Everything is God's. God works through us and plants seeds and thoughts in us. Whether we choose to follow that or not is a different story.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. This week, I was blogging with women who didn't agree with me (which was wonderful because I learned something). We were blogging about sex and feminism, and of course we disagreed with how we got to where we are in society today. I get up very early to take a shower and sit down on the computer to get my thinking, praying, reading, or blogging in. When I sat down with my computer here and turned on the television, I was going to turn on the news. But then I thought, let's see what's on EWTN today. I turned the station and guess what? It was a program about... drum roll please... sex and kids!! Coincidence? I think not. My idea? I think not. God talks to us all the time. He whispers and if we listen, we will learn His ways and He will be able to live through us.

See, we are His. He does His works through us if we let Him. I guess I decided to let Him that day. I could have turned on the news because that's what I wanted to do, but I didn't. I realize a little more each day that my life is not mine. It belongs to our Lord. That takes strength, but it also brings comfort.

Once we come to terms with our sins and feel repentance, it turns into the Second Degree of Prayer: Heart.