Prayer Isn't
We have some popular misconceptions about prayer. They come from a host of places other than the Bible and Jesus’ teaching. Yes, prayer on some level includes pleading with God. Prayer is not asking God to perform our will. At least, that is not effective prayer, nor what Jesus teaches us in regard to petitioning God. If all prayer is for us is rubbing a magic lamp to gain access to our three incontrovertible wishes, we have missed the boat. That is the essential purpose behind magic and the fertility cult practices from the backdrop surrounding Ancient Israel. Yes, we are to make our desires known in prayer, but then we are to back off from them as Jesus portrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” The gospel reading in the lectionary for next Sunday is another case in point. The disciples come up to Jesus, saying, “Please say ‘Yes’!” Jesus does not fall for than any more than the wise parent of a preeschooler does. Once they have presented