Prayer
I'm reading, Larry Crabb's latest, The Papa Prayer, and wow, it's good. I love anything he writes, so I'm loving this. What he says about prayer, I've felt forever, and so what he's saying is hopeful. I've always been kind of doubter when it comes to prayer, at least in some respects. Do I doubt God heals, that he hears us and answers us, no ... not really, not anymore than anyone else. Do I believe that God is obliged to act a particular way or do a particular thing, because I've followed the prayer rules or prayer principles? No, I don't believe that either. The issue is, what is God's agenda with prayer, and what is ours? Often, ours is simply to get things from Him, or get him to do things for us, or those we love. That's the rub, because what we want is rarely lined up with what he wants, and that's why I'm liking the Papa Prayer. It brings us back to the purpose of prayer, which is, to know God, to relate to Him, not use him to get things or arrange life to suit us. The thing Crabb talks about that hits home is, that we rarely relate to God through prayer, enjoy Him, just spend time with him. We've always got "business" to do with God, whether it is trying to get him to fix a problem or fix someone elses problems, or, to tell him we're mad cause he hasn't. Crabb raises the question, what if the point of prayer was relationship and relating, not getting things from him, or getting him to do things for us. Important things to ponder.
posted by The Joneses - Keepin' up with you at
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
1 Comments:
Wow, this is a fresh post if I've ever seen one! Yep, prayer, hmm, well, I haven't read Crabb's book so know nothing really about the Papa prayer. It would've been helpful to know at least what this type or attitude of prayer is.
Just wanted to comment to register my reading your blog post, to wish you well, brother, and invite you to visit mine, if you are so inclined.
I've read a lot of books on prayer, and have tried a lot of "methods." What I've always fallen back to is the Word of God, specifically the Psalms, as my "prayer book," interspersed with my personal thanksgivings, confessions of sin, intercessions, and praises. The Psalms really do work to unite me to the praying people of God thru'out the ages, and they jump start me in the right direction. The other point to make from my personal experience is this: The Lord is constantly providing for us in every way and in every category of our lives, so my prayers of intercession and petition usually take the form of, "Heavenly Father, help us to open our hearts to receive Your will and Your mercy into our lives. You know everything about us, Lord. You love us more than we want, and want to give us more than we ask for. Just be patient with us and help us to receive You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
The best book on realistic prayer I have ever read (and many books are just a lot of words with not much real experience behind them, but not THIS book) is, Anthony Bloom's book, "Beginning to Pray." This is written by a Russian Orthodox bishop, who is our near contemporary and may in fact still be alive (I think he is), but what he says is awesome and applicable by any evangelical disciple of Christ. I recommend it.
Go with God, dear brother!
— Romanós
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