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| REST STOP #4: Starting Small with Prayer How does prayer work? In our modern world of science and advanced technology, what does it mean to pray? Is prayer some psychological practice that weak-minded people do to make themselves feel better? Is it a way to control nature, cure diseases and free us from our troubles? Is prayer the way we get our will to submit to the unchanging will of God? Or is prayer the way we work with God to change the world? Can we change God’s mind? Prayer is listening to and interacting with a radically free God. But what does that mean? When people pray (or think about how prayer works), they tend to make one of two mistakes. Some fall into the “ditch” of believing that prayer is nothing more than a feel good mumbo-gumbo exercise. It’s a nice thing to do, a fine thing to do, but change anything? Hardly. Prayer is pretty Others fall into the “ditch” of seeing prayer as a magic pill. If we pray just right or long enough, God will give us whatever we ask. It’s a sure thing. This understanding, taken to its extreme, makes God into a Diving Being we manipulate, not love. God is a cosmic pop machine—just put in the right coins anBut prayer is relationship, a relationship with the almighty God. Both of the ditches above try to put God in a box that God refuses to fit into. Can we change God’s mind through prayer? Sometimes. Does God say no even through we pray with all kinds of faith? Sometimes. Does prayer change our situation for the better? Always. But our definition of better or miraculous or answered prayer is sometimes different than God’s definition. Continued... | |||||||||
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