I was watching this TV show on Saturday called "Islam 101". At one point, the "teacher" was talking about the 5 Pillars of Islam. One of the pillars is that they are required to pray to Allah at least 5 times per day. While we a Christians know that we are free to pray at every moment of every day and that we are to "pray continually", so we actually do it? I have found it to be difficult enough to set aside time in the morning to seek God. I am both shamed and inspired by the dedication of these people. We are supposed to be seeking the kingdom of God FIRST, yet that seems so far from what we actually practice. Having an attitude of prayer throughout our day is important, but setting that specific time aside for God...oh how He desires it!
I can understand why so many people choose Islam. From what I have seen they have everything right, but for one key thing: Islam does not recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God. If we would put into practice the 5 Pillars of Islam (which fit very well within Christianity), yet recognize Jesus Christ for who He is, I have no doubt that this world would be transformed unbelievably fast.
Near the end of my time in Eston I was down in the prayer room, and as I was praying I was overwhelmed by the Spirit. He was yearning for God's people to pray. For so long no one was answering, but He just kept calling. He said, "Wake up Church! Come one Church! Wake up! It's time!" I kept wondering, "Time for what?" It took me a while to realize that He was meaning it's time to pray. I was reminded of when Jesus asked His disciples to keep watch and to pray, but they kept falling asleep. I hope we do not fall asleep this time, but that we keep watch and pray.
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3 comments:
Oh gosh girl....what a time for me to read your post....I just had a conversation with my sister about taking time to pray...and I have been struggling with this very much so....thanks for your thoughts...
Be blessed
love ya
The 5 Pillars...
OK, let's see if I can remember them off the top of my head (which means no Encarta, Wikipedia or having a Muslim guy sitting right next to me)
1. Prayer, daily, repeatedly (5 times you said...)
2. A pilgrimage to Mecca at least once
3. The giving of alms
4. The recitation of the saying "Allah is god and Mohammed his prophet."
5. Jihad - which to some is violent, some not - but includes the conversion of the entire world.
Looking for confirmation...
Checking...
OK, so according to Wikipedia, I got most of them right.
My mistakes:
- I forgot fasting at Ramadan (how did I forget that one?)
- Jihad is debated as a sixth pillar, but not included in the required five.
- The recitation is a profession of faith, not a mantra.
- I mixed up the order, which may or may not be important.
Thanks for indulging me, I am a bit rusty.
As far as your post goes...
I consider worship to be extremely tied to prayer. Since it is possible to worship through word and deed, I consider it possible to "pray" while doing other things - it's all in the attitude and motive behind the actions. As far as Paul goes in saying that we should "pray continually", I wonder if "pray consistently" or even "pray willingly" (*that* can be a struggle sometimes) would be a more appropriate translation into modern usage.
The only reason that I have for this argument is that it is impossible for a person to be consciously praying all the time. Talking to others, ironing, heck, even getting dressed in the morning would take some of your focus off prayer. Believe me...during Street Invaders, I took this literally one day and tried it. I managed to spend about 3 hours praying! However, looking back on it, I realize that isolated me from the rest of the group and the church which I was ministering in. I highly doubt that's what Paul had in mind...
However, I realize that there are people that have a call to intercession and that there are things that people end up doing under the power of the Holy Spirit that I will never be able to understand. As a person from the outside of that group, I will say that I cannot consciously "pray continually", but maybe some people do because of the ability given them by God.
Now, I am not throwing out conscious, deliberate prayer (keeping baby...throwing water...) because it can help improve our relationship with God by giving us a chance to just slow down and (insert Lauren's voice here) "Be". I also believe that prayer plays an important part in spiritual warfare, though I'm not totally sure how it works, although I am pretty sure that some people take their warfare "to the extreme" and do more harm than good.
As for the whole "Islam seems to have it all together" statement, I would venture to say that there is a bit more than the fact that they don't acknowledge Jesus as God working against them.
DISCLAIMER: The following is based on my cursory knowledge of Islamic belief/tradition/practice - anyone that knows better than I do reads this and finds any errors/oversights/ommissions, please correct me and direct me to a third-party source (if possible) so that I can correct the error in the future.
1. Islam has a bit of trouble fitting into the cultural norms that Jesus taught in areas such as the treatment of women, marriage and the responsibilites thereof and other things of that nature.
2. Islam has its share of "nominal followers" too. Entire governmental systems are built around Islam nowadays and because of their zeal (and/or fear of the government or Allah), they get the message out with the same fervency as Christianity did during the time of the Apostles, the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire or even the Crusades.
3. Peace.
It's a big one...Islam teaches that you are totally responsible for all your actions. Allah is all about paying you back for them whether now or later. I wouldn't want to live without knowing that I am forgiven.
4. Grace.
In addition to knowing that we have our sins forgiven , there is a certain aspect of grace that is present in Christianity that is absent from Islam. Islam's "5 Pillars" exist as a guide to a good life and should be rigidly adhered to. They follow these things because they have to in order to ensure a place in heaven and a place of mercy with Allah. However, we as Christians serve Christ because we want to, not because we have to. And he gives us grace for when we mess up and grace as a power to keep on going.
While the world could be transformed ridiculously fast by having all Christians follow with the same zeal and rigidness of Islam, would it be transformation or a worldwide recruitment/hostile takeover?
That's why God, who is "willing that none should perish" is the same God who comissioned Joshua to challenge the people to "choose you this day who you will serve".
And that's all I have to say about that...
Welcome to the oh-so-wonderful world of "balance". Perhaps I go to far, but I know that many do not go far enoguh. Perhaps I am still learning that many of the things I am saying are for my own life because I know that I have been called to be an intercessor. to "theding": Thanks for the Islam lesson...it was much appreciated.
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