Still married.

Today my family is celebrating my parents' 21st wedding anniversary- well there's really no "celebration" because Papa is assigned some place else and so there's only me, Mama, and my sister Maria here- watching Budoy. But I have to say this is their best anniversary yet, at least in my opinion. Stay with me for a few more minutes and you'll know why.

Theirs is a marriage which irritatingly goes from mountaintops to deep valleys every now and then. One moment they are seriously fighting, but after a day or two they become like teenage sweethearts who are madly in love with each other again. For the longest time I've been complaining- sometimes silently, but many times audaciously- both to them and to God about why they married in the first place, and why they remain to be until now. I questioned the purity and the genuineness of their love towards each other and I used to tell myself that when I get married someday, I will never be like them. But now God amazingly gave me new eyes to view my parents' marriage. I am proud to say that they truly, genuinely, purely love each other.

They have ups in their marriage after going through great downs because they love each other and more importantly, they choose to love each other. I realize now that they too know how to go beyond the shallowness of their emotions and still go on to love. They are forgiving and they want to be reconciled again even after a fight. And I'm not just talking about minor quarrels, I'm talking about serious, heart-breaking fights. They choose to overlook an offense- how could I have missed this all these years? Yesterday while chatting with them I was overjoyed when Papa commented that marriages should have no expiration. He married Mama for good! And I have reason to believe that Mama feels the same way too. All this time I have been focusing on the ugly details, but thankfully now I know that their love is very real. I applaud God for them; after all, He wrote their love story.

Stop Praying.

Nope, you did not misread that.

Of course we both know that this isn’t what they teach us on Sundays and never can this be found in the Good Book. In fact there’s Colossians 4:2, and many others that encourage the exact opposite. But I won’t take the title back. And of course I am not messing with you. :p

By ceasing in prayer I do not mean that we should come to a point where we say "I have prayed enough, and have uttered all sorts of prayers there are in the universe, I have peaked in my prayer life, therefore today I end it."

Come on! We know that never will that day come because every moment, every season we go through is a season of need. Need of God's grace, forgiveness, provision, in fact need of God himself. Oh and must I add that it is a desperate need?

But we have to stop praying- when God is telling us to act. If we think that being in our private supplications majority of the time will suffice, then we are greatly mistaken. I have nothing against spending significant hours in intercession, but I have everything against not doing something about what we have just interceded about. There's a certain personal prayer concern which whenever I am reminded about, would always urge me, not to pray, but to actually make a step of faith by doing my part.

I strongly believe that intercession should be

beyond the words we utter. What's that old man's proverb again? "Actions speak louder than words." I'm sure that this doesn't apply to men's ears alone but to God's as well. How will God answer our plead to pass our problematic subjects when we tell him, by not studying hard, that a failed grade is just as fine? Aren't we sending contradicting messages when we ask for provision yet we are not generous to the church and to others?

Our God, ladies and gentlemen, is the God who isn't tickled by lip service alone. For me when he commanded us to pray without ceasing, he did not mean for us to keep reminding him about what our needs are, as if he is forgetful! True intercession transcends words and extends to actions.Not actions declaring our independence from God, but ones very much filled with faith in him. I think it's Philip Yancey who wrote that when we pray, we must be prepared to be the very answer to

our prayers.

If prayer is powerful enough, how much more is prayer acted upon?

:)

(A September17, 2011 post in Facebook)