Prayer

I have not always had a real appreciation for prayer. I have always found myself bouncing between two realities:

1) You are supposed to ask for what you want
2) You are supposed to trust that God knows best

For me this equated to prayers something like this... "Hey God, I would really like it if you could make this happen for me, but if it is not Your will then help me OK with it." Then I got to the point I didn't even know why I was asking, so it is was... "Hey God, do whatever you want to do." Then, I stopped praying at all... God is going to do what He is going to do, right?

This has been a lifelong struggle. Why do we pray? How should we pray?

I have heard the spiel: you can't get to know and have a relationship with someone if you don't talk to them, right? Well, what if it is just you talking? I mean, it isn't like God doesn't know what you are thinking... What if I hear God speaking to me more when I look at a sunset than when I pray? Does that excuse me from it?

For a long time, even though I wouldn't have admitted it, I would have said yes.

I have learned something profound over the years, God wants to give you everything you want. He loves you so much he wants you to ask for it and he wants to grant your request, EVERY TIME!

If you are thinking, 'yea, I know'... try and let that settle in some more.

I wish I could say that knowing this changed everything, but of course it didn't. It's like knowing God loves you unconditionally... yet we still seek that fulfillment everywhere else.

Here's the other thing I have found, when I am not praying, I am not as aware of God at work in my life. If I ask Him for something, I am going to be more likely to acknowledge He gave it to me. I am going to foster gratitude and awareness of God's love and presence in my life and the world around me.

You know, I still don't have the whole prayer thing worked out, but I am chipping away at it. I think prayer is genius really. Everyone needs to talk to someone. Everything needs to spill their guts every once and awhile and everyone needs to feel like their aren't alone in the universe. Popular culture and hollywood make that argument everyday. God ingrained that desire in us, and he provides the outlet and the solution to our problem within prayer. But, we try and fill it with gossip and therapists. We try and make things happen for ourselves and we experience stress and anxiety from our attempts to control the universe. We weren't made to live this way. We were made to rely on God, and He designed prayer as an integral part to meet OUR needs, because He certainly doesn't NEED us.