Dear Brothers and Sisters,

While the Buddhists have 84 thousand dharma doors (methods of practice), the Christians have only one practice – that is praying: Praying to God to be connected with God, to take refuge in God, to committed oneself to God, and to find strength, peace and happiness in God.

Praying is to hold God’s hand and be one with God. Of course, praying this way gives you strength, peace, and happiness, especially in dire, dangerous or hopeless situations normally involving great fears and stresses.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

(Psalm 23, a psalm of David,
the third king of the United Kingdom of Israel)

Praying is an easy task to do – everyone can pray at any time. So, the Christians have the advantage of learning only one easy method of practice.

However, praying does require strong faith in God and concentration on God when you pray. Most people pray as a matter of repeated formula, without any concentration. So, their praying is like children’s reciting by heart a folk rhyme without any understanding of the rhyme.

Praying means talking with God. So, when praying you need to concentrate on God and focus on the conversation.

And conversation is two-way talking, so you talk to God and listen to what God says to you. If you focus on the two-way conversation, God listens to you and will talk to you. You can “hear” God’s voice through your feelings.

That also means you need to be quiet when you converse with God – keep your mind empty of everything other than God; don’t think about anything else other than God.

And praying is a constant non-stop activity. You don’t talk to God in five minutes and end the conversation. You always talk to God, even when you are busy doing other things. You do everything with God doing it with you. God and you are always together and always work together on everything, because God and you are one. And you always conscious of the fact that you and God are one. That is the state of constant praying, at the subconscious level.

Praying is a powerful practice to bring you strength, peace, and happiness.

But you have to keep a strong faith in God and a constant consciousness of the presence of God next to you, and in you, anytime, anywhere, in everything you do.

Then you will see God and hear God, and see the miracles God makes for you every day.

And I mean every day.

Praise and thank be to God.

With compassion,

Hoành

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Trần Đình Hoành
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