Why bother praying? It does not matter if we have developed bad habits in limiting prayer to only asking for things, but prayer is much, much richer than that. By all means let's keep asking God to keep changing us, but let's also give praise and thanksgiving; crying out in lamentation; affirm our trust and faith; sing of our salvation; and simply wait upon the Lord. There is a way to pray for all seasons under the sun.
No Temple made by mortal human hands can ever compare to the Temple made by the gods themselves. That building of wood and stone that houses us and that many believe conceals the great Secret Temple from prying eyes, somewhere in its heart of hearts, is but a decoy for the masses who need this simple concrete limited thing in their lives. The real Temple is the whole world, and there is nothing as divinely blessed as a blooming growing garden.
For those who want to pray for me to "find God," please don't waste your prayers. If you really think God is listening to you, then please use those precious moments to ask God to care for the sick and dying, and leave me out of it. I'm happy without my faith and with living my life in the here and now. Besides, thousands before you have prayed for me to find God and it hasn't worked yet. Why would God value your request over theirs?
But is it such a bad thing to live like this for just a little while? Just for a few months of one's life, is it so awful to travel through time with no greater ambition than to find the next lovely meal? Or to learn how to speak a language for no higher purpose than that it pleases your ear to hear it? Or to nap in a garden, in a patch of sunlight, in the middle of the day, right next to your favourite fountain? And then to do it again the next day?
Living a lie – pretending everything is fine when we areactually discontented – is hard work and, in the long run, even bad for our health. We pay a high pricefor compromising on this honesty – and neglecting ourselves. Finding our inner passion, our missionin life, and connecting with who we really are, our spiritual being or our higher self – this is the key to success and fulfilment. Our ‘soul’ purpose is our sole purpose in life.
Karena sesungguhnya cinta tidak pernah meminta untuk menanti. Ia mengambil kesempatan atau mempersilakan ... Ia adalah keberanian atau pengorbanan. Ya Allah, jadikan cinta ini cinta yang Engkau ridhai,jika dia memang bukan milik kita ... Melalui waktu, hapuslah ‘cinta dalam diam’ ini dengan memberi rasa yang lebih indah dan orang yang tepat biarkan ‘cinta dalam diam’ ini menjadi memori tersendiri dan sudut hati ini menjadi rahasia antara kita dengan Sang Pemilik hati.
Anyone who is having troubles should pray. Anyone who is happy should sing praises. Anyone who is sick should call the church's elders. They should pray for and pour oil on the person in the name of the Lord. And the prayer that is said with faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will heal that person. And if the person has sinned, the sins will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so God can heal you. When a believing person prays, great things happen. (James 5:13-16)
Please… Whoever you are, whatever you are… I believe in you even though I don’t completely understand you. I feel you around me even though I can’t exactly describe what I’m feeling. Sometimes things happen to me and I know that you’re there and I’m humbled by the lack of coincidence that exists in the world. Whatever you want from me, it’s yours — just please help me. You know how I get when I lose control, and I find myself constantly being pulled back there these days.
Pray each morning and each night.Talk to God and be polite.Tell Him what you're grateful for.Leave your troubles at His door.Share your wishes, needs, and hopes.Ask God what to do to cope.Tell Him all you learned today.Say the things you need to say.Ask forgiveness for your sins,That you might live with God again.Speak with earnest heart and soul,And He will listen. This I know.For prayer is hope put to the test.And hope is faith in what is best.Faith is power to do great things.Thus, prayer is faith's enabling wings.
You have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad (jihad alakbar).”His followers asked him what that greater jihad was. “The struggle against your passionatesoul,”2 he replied.‘So what does this greater jihad entail?’ I asked him.‘It is the effort to practise our faith,’ Gai replied. ‘To pray five times every day is an effort, to veilone’s selfish desires and conduct life in accordance with Islamic ethics and laws. The greatest“spiritual warriors” are the saints armed not with weapons but with prayer and prayer beads.’ Whileit all made sense I wanted to know more about the idea that we needed to go out and fight jihad
Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don’t, you will leak away your innate contentment. It’s easy enough to pray when you’re in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.
You’ve been tested.’ He advised me totry and ‘forgive and pardon, and this way seek to become beloved by God’ without my forgivenessbeing tied to the one who wronged me. ‘This is the Divine remedy,’ he emphasised, ‘remind your egowhen it resists. Don’t you love for God to forgive you on the day, too?’ Reflecting on what the Shaykhsaid, his advice undid a knot in my heart and I resolved to work on my forgiveness purely for the sakeof God. The Shaykh also recommended: ‘Be careful about what you pray for in the future.’ Hepromised to pray for me personally, asking God to send me a Muslim husband who would value andcherish me for who I am. Insha’ Allah!
لا تسمح للحياة السريعة أن تسرق منك لحظات التعبد والطاعة ، لاتسمح لها بأن تجعل من صلاتك روتينا تؤديه في وقت معين بلا روح أو وعي
As a kid, I was taught that if you opened the Bible in the middle you'd probably land on the book of Psalms. And near the middle is everyone's favorite, the 23rd, there is this line: "You prepare a table before in the presence of my enemies." I don't know how many times I've read or recited this Psalm without pondering what that line actually means, but here is my take on it. When things are a bit tense, when life is not going at its best, when the potential for disaster is just around the corner, when your enemies are all around you - and even staring you down! - that's when God lays out the red-checkered picnic cloth and says, "Oooo, this is a nice place. Let's hang out here together for a while...just you and me.
Anyone seeking to draw closer to God needs to curb the horizontal and ascend to God vertically,’ he said. ‘And this means giving oneself fully to God – with all one’s heart, body, mind and soul. There mustn’t be any dark corners.’Skimming the surface wasn’t an option, he stressed. ‘People often tend to merely skate around theedges of religion, but what they really need is to plunge into its depths like deep-sea divers lookingfor treasures. Too many people nowadays make selective choices from various faiths – the New Ageapproach, but never embrace any one of them fully,’ said Nasr.It was true, so many people didn’t believe in organised religion but liked to take the best from every religion or spiritual teaching. ‘The most direct means of communication with God,’ he concluded, ‘are prayer and dhikr.
