Q&A Home > S > Spiritual Life

The Holy Bible says that the Kingdom is taken by violence. When am I going to love to go to church and to be eager to pray? I ask God to enable me to love doing these things, but even that, I push myself into doing. Also, should I be praying in the Divine Liturgy along with Abouna or my own prayers?

Prayer is a way of life and is a continuous warfare against the devil. The struggle you are facing is nothing but a temptation from the devil to stop you from doing the thing he hates most, which is praying and having this personal relationship with God. Do not lose hope but be persistent. Sometimes God's answer is in this gift of perseverance that allows us to continue to ask. "Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart" (Luke 18:1).

Prayer is a way of communicating with the One we love, GOD. We cannot really love someone without knowing Him. The more we get to know God the more we will love Him. The best way to know Him is to read His Word and follow His teachings. A daily quiet time reading the Bible will get you closer to Him and as in any relationship, the closer you are to someone the more you want to spend time with him/her without being pushed to do so. If this is true with our earthly family and friends, how would it be with our Heavenly Father Who not only loves us but is Himself LOVE.

Consider praying with other family members or friends to encourage each other as the Holy Scripture says "two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. And if one (the devil) prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:9,12).

The devil hates seeing us go to church even if we do not pray. He gives us thoughts like, 'I am too tired to go, it is boring, I do not benefit etc.' We have to remember "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish" (Gal 5:17).

To benefit from the Divine Liturgy, one has to feel he is praying with the whole congregation in one accord. The Holy Bible teaches us, "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication" (Acts 1:14 see also Acts 2:1; 2:46; 4:24). Your own prayers should be at home between you and the Lord but at church, the priest leads the communal prayers for each one of us not for himself alone. The Liturgy books have the priest prayer, the response of the deacons and the PEOPLE. You ARE the people, you have to follow the priest and respond in one accord with the people as a member of one body. Surely if you open the liturgy book and follow the responses, you will concentrate, benefit and enjoy the prayers and be eager to attend the liturgies.

Check this website for further reading www.coptic.net/cn/youth/Online_Booklets/y/y7/y7.html.