THE ESSENCE OF PRAYER: WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU, LORD?


7/21/20

At the risk of sounding pompously, yet undeservedly, momentous or ridiculously obvious, I think I’ve come to a fundamental conclusion about the nature of prayer, to wit…

We divine the essence of prayer when we come to see prayer not as a way to make God our servant but, rather, as a way to make ourselves God’s servants.

Rather than present God with a list of things He can do for us, we should be asking Him what we can do for Him and, of course, for His children.    We also should ask for the willingness and the ability to respond, willingly and unreservedly, to His answers to that request.

Years ago, I heard a guy put at least part of this more succinctly, to wit…

God is not a short order cook.

Praying for outcomes is pointless given our human limitations and understanding.    Asking, and being genuinely willing, to be put to work to achieve God’s purposes, even if that means casting our goals aside, will surely lead to a more beneficent outcome for everybody involved, including ourselves.

No, it is by no means easy to trust God to such an extent, but yours truly is working on it.

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