Prayer |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Jan 10 2009 |
| Blog >> God Stuff |
Most Christians (and non, for that matter) have various reasons for approaching God with prayers. These reasons include:
- God will be disappointed in us if we don't (God becomes a dictator)
- We will feel better about ourselves (God becomes a religion)
- We will grow in maturity with God (Jesus becomes a teacher, not a savior)
- God needs us to pray (God becomes just the man upstairs pressing the buttons)
- We will get what we want if we pray (God becomes a vending machine)
Praying is all about aligning our own mind and heart with God's so that we can participate fully in the purpose he has set out for each of us.
CS Lewis has the quote:"If you go to God to get what you want you won't get it or God, but if you go to God to get God, you will get God and what you want."
I also want to discuss one of the common misconceptions of God in relation to prayer. If God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and just simply . . . God, wouldn't he already know what we need and provide us with what he chooses to provide us with regardless of what we think we need?
If God was like this, though, wouldn't we then just be robots, without the freedom to choose our path?
Sure, you could start talking about predestination here, but the main point is: God gives us the option to follow His plan for our lives - He extends Himself to us, and we can choose to follow Him or not. Choosing to follow Him most definitely does not mean an easier or better life in any way. Praying is not about asking for things to go well, like I said before - it's about being able to show trust that God's work in and around us is for the best (by seeing things more in God's perspective). The question of prayer is: God's plan (which centers around love, not specifics) will be done, but will you be a part of it and communicate with your base so you execute the correct mission?
So in the end, my perspective of prayer boils down to: "What can I do for you right now, God?" rather than "What can you do for me right now, God?"
Quotes that have made me think:
"I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help him. I ended up asking him to do his work through me." — Hudson Taylor (nineteenth-century missionary to China)
"I want a life of greater, deeper, truer prayer." — Archbishop Tait
"Dozens of radio and television signals went through your room while you read these words, but you failed to pick them up because you were not tuned to the proper frequencies . . . " — Richard Foster
"A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening." — Soren Kierkegaard
"Prayer is to religion what original research is to science." — P.T. Forsythe
"To understand that the work of prayer involves a learning process saves us from arrogantly dismissing it as false or unreal. If we turn on our television set and it does not work, we do not declare that there are no such things as electronic frequencies in the air or on the cable. We assume something is wrong, something we can find and correct. We check the plug, switch, circuitry until we discover what is blocking the flow of this mysterious energy that transmits pictures. We know the problem has been found and fixed by seeing whether or not the TV works. It is the same with prayer. We can determine if we are praying correctly if the requests come to pass. If not, we look for the "block"; perhaps we are praying wrongly, perhaps something within us needs changing, perhaps there are new principles of prayer to be learned, perhaps patience and persistence are needed. We listen, make the necessary adjustments, and try again. We can know that our prayers are being answered as surely as we can know that the television set is working." — Richard Foster
Last changed: Dec 05 2009 at 6:41 PM
Back