Thoughts on Prayer
Prayer is God’s prompting us to engage in conversation. It’s an invitation to a direct, unmediated interaction with our beginning and our end, our source and our life. Prayer has the power to change us, to change the world, and even to change God (see Exodus 32:11-14).
There are many excellent books on prayer, none of them under my authorship. But here are some observations about my own prayer across the first 9 waking hours of this day.
When we gather with other Christians, prayer is often expected. We ask each other what to bring before God, and we use our limited language to pour out our gratitude and our grief, our concerns and our willingness to help.
Any conversation can be the occasion for prayer between ourselves and God, and also with the other person or people. When I am praying during a conversation, I am frequently prompted to listen more and talk less. When I listen to that prompting, and finally do speak, it’s almost always more to the point than what I had been thinking earlier.
When we’re connecting with the heart and mind of God in prayer, we bring more of God’s heart and mind to what we’re doing. Even if the next people we see are not praying with us, they benefit from the better version of who we’re becoming.
Listening without first speaking to God will bring to mind what God knows we need to be involved with. Sometimes I mistake this for becoming distracted, but more often it’s reorientation to where my thoughts needed to be.
When the noise and pace pick up to the point of confusion, I have a better chance of hearing and responding to God if my room/car/walk etc. is quiet. Discipleship doesn’t require a playlist or a newsfeed.
Sometimes the link between prayer and change in me or in the world around me is not so immediate that I can see the connection. But I do know that the more often I pray, the more often I want to pray.
I am praying for you! Grace and Peace,
Pastor Don Wink