Looking forward to prayer... how I have changed!

I mentioned in a previous post how initially as a Christian I was rather grudging about prayer, and considered it more of a duty than anything I would willingly do. But, reading the Bible and praying and getting to know God better definitely had results that completely changed me! One Easter I realized I had changed a lot as a person: I was happy to take a 1-hour shift of prayer at Easter Vigil at the church (you can read about that here).

This Easter, I'm looking forward again to praying - another reminder that I have changed so much. Some relatives of ours are going on a fun vacation over Easter. In the past, I probably would have felt rather jealous that they are going on vacation while we are not going anywhere. But actually I didn't feel the slightest bit jealous this year. Because I knew that I wanted to pray at Easter Vigil. I feel that Easter is the part of the year where there is a lot of spiritual danger in the world. I wanted to pray, mainly to be thankful and praise God for his sacrifice, but also I wanted to pray in spiritual warfare against the forces of evil. How on earth would I do that on vacation? It would be so hard to concentrate on something that serious! Also, I'm aware that of those two activities (prayer vs vacation), only one of these will have eternal consequences. Yet, a few years ago, I don't think I would have seen this so clearly. I probably would have seen that I "should" prefer prayer, but I wouldn't have actually preferred it.

This is the first year that I really feel that, when faced with a secular activity choice, I would willingly take the spiritual one.

God is making a difference in me, and I know that difference is Him. So, reading the Bible and praying does have an effect. I'm not the same person as I once was.

A lot of times people think that praying is boring. I know; I was one of these people once. But when you realize that in praying as a prayer warrior, you are directly fighting in the battle that has the biggest (most eternal) stakes, I cannot say it is boring.

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