Thoughts About Prayer

Prayer is meant to be co-labor, not just a dumping grounds for worries.

I pray that God would teach me to be more selfless.
I pray that God would help me find a good job in less than a year.
I pray that God would help me with doubt and confusion.

Once I've offered it, I tend to forget it, or at least for awhile. God's got it under control after all, right?

But then, what right do I have to complain that God does not answer my prayers? I've forgotten it. I've made no effort. God could magically change me and provide specific needs out of the blue, but then what have I learned? That God is omnipotent? Perhaps. That selflessness is hard work? Well, no. That character development and grappling with the ideas of God is hard work but the most satisfying? Hmm, not so much. Have I truly changed then? Have my prayers actually been answered? God wants to provide, but He will not be limited by what I think I need. He has greater plans for me, a way to make me more happy and bring him more glory.

Prayer is not dumping but working through difficulties with God. It is in my time of prayer that healing and providence begins. After all, if I can feel refreshed by a conversation with a good friend, why do I not expect healing and refreshment after I talk with my Almighty Father? I think we sometimes wait too much for God to do all of the work. But if I dump and then walk away, how can he help me?

-Thanks to listening to J.P. Moreland's chapel, The Spiritual Discipline of Prayer from Fall 1999.