Bigger than we think

As I mentioned earlier, I have listened to a series of three sermons by Andy Stanley about prayer.
His theory is, based on the two occasions when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, that perhaps we as followers of God, have short-changed prayer at the best, and completely misunderstand it at the worst.

We often see prayer as our opportunity to tell God what we need, want, or plan for him to do. Is that prayer? Is that its God-given purpose?

God certainly wants to hear our concerns, but there is more to it. And if we miss the MORE, then we miss out on a relationship with God.

He says to consider this. Think about a marriage. If the only contact we had with our spouse was to sit and talk about the mechanics of life – when to pick up the carpool kids, when to go get groceries, how to arrange life so that works out, then we will not develop or nurture our relationship. We need time for focus on each other – to talk, to interact. The same is true of friendships. We need to devote time to a relationship.

Why is it, then, that we think we can spend two seconds in prayer, listing the worries of life, and then think that we will develop a deeper understanding of God? We can’t.

What he said made sense to me, and I was even more impressed with some of what came next, which I’ll try to share tomorrow.

Image: Macro close-up of a flower on a miniature golf course.