Softball prayer
February 5th, 2010Have you ever paid attention to all the prayers that folks lob up to God?
I was noting all the different ones that were being offered over the last few days on Facebook and Twitter. Everything from jobs to feeding the hungry. Petitions tossed out like a penny in a wishing well. I think we sincerely believe that he is a cosmic vending machine — drop in a prayer and out pops your choice.
I’ve been a guilty party.
So what’s up with this? Do we really think that he’s holding out on us? He knows what we need, but gets some sort of jolly out of seeing us squirm?
No wonder the non-believer is a non-. Who needs that?
To ask what’s been asked of him many times before, “Just who are you anyway?”
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BANG! Ouch!
I really like this post.
Sometimes I find myself asking the same type of question. And then I somehow always go back to the same conclusion of: Prayer is more for us than God. This year especially has made me look at prayer quite differently, while still coming to that same conclusion, but I am applying it differently.
I used to tell people I would pray for them because that was what I thought I was supposed to do. I used to pray because it made me feel like I was doing the right thing. I used to pray because I thought I was taking time out and acknowledging God’s presence and giving him the Glory. But really I was mostly praying because that is what I had been taught or told to do. It was more of a learned behavior, and not an “experienced” behavior. Are there more prayers than ever being thrown out there now by people, because they learn or want to continue to learn about prayer more than they allow themselves to experience it?
Don’t get me wrong, I do and have completely believed that prayer works, but the definition of how it works is very different to me now. I understand now that I am the work in progress, not God.
I understand that when we pray, we are the ones that need the “intervening” not God. I understand that every experience that calls for prayer is a chance to truly see things from God’s plan and not my own. So to make a long story short: I don’t pray like I used to anymore. I pray because I feel the Holy Spirit stirring something inside of me, telling me that I need to do it. I pray at times because I feel somewhat displaced from my own feelings, and I deeply feel a connection to the needs of those requiring the prayer, and sometimes it hurts. I pray because I am so incredibly thankful for the life God has given me. I pray without control.
I still have a hard time praying out loud or even asking for prayers, but I have become so much more comfortable using the same definition of prayer that I had before, but experiencing it differently.