Tagged: Prayers in English

“Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand.” –Jeremiah 18:6 God the Father is the Potter and we are the clay. Many people consider this a beautiful, even consoling, image. This may be true, but this perception may indicate an incomplete understanding of this Biblical image. When Isaiah brings up the image of God the Potter, he adds: “Be not so very angry, Lord, keep not our guilt forever in mind” (see Is 64:8). When Jeremiah uses the same image, he adds the following words of God: “Sometimes I threaten to uproot and...

“He went back and put up for sale all that he had and bought it.” –Matthew 13:46 All of us are spending our lives on something. Like little children who spend all their money on candy, a number of us spend our lives on pleasures. We work to make money to buy pleasures. We live to be entertained and to feel good. After years of doing this, we have nothing but very faded memories of feeling good and a few unsatisfying possessions, accompanied by a few compulsions. We have little to show for our lives of selfishness. Then, after being...

“Let my eyes stream with tears day and night.” –Jeremiah 14:17 Some people are not concerned about the condition of the world, the state of the Church, the destruction of human lives, the breakdown of marriage and family, etc. They simply watch TV and try to escape from reality. In contrast, we who follow the Lord should love God and other people enough to pray: “Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest, over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound” (Jer 14:17). When Jesus saw people weakened and...

“I will announce what has lain hidden since the creation of the world.” –Matthew 13:35 In Jesus’ parables, we learn things that were hidden for many thousands of years before Christ (Mt 13:35). In the Scriptures, the Lord tells us “things great beyond reach of [our] knowledge” (Jer 33:3). The Holy Spirit works through the Scriptures to reveal “even the deep things of God” (1 Cor 2:10). ” ‘Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him.’ Yet God has revealed this wisdom...

“What good is that for so many?” –John 6:9 The world, the flesh, and the devil – the three traditional enemies of Christians – try to brainwash us into trivializing our lives. Our enemies want us to believe that it doesn’t matter how we spend our time, energies, thoughts, money, or lives. One technique often used to make us think our lives are meaningless is to show us our inadequacy. Satan shows us the immensity of our culture of death – mass abortions, gross injustices, millions starving, and centuries of violent oppression and unforgiveness. Under these conditions, we feel inadequate...