Musings on Prayer

I'm a pray-er. I wouldn't say my prayers have always been pretty or selfless by any means, but I've always talked to God a lot. I've never really been one to worry about whether it was King James English and I've always just talked to Jesus like I talk to anyone. There are prayers filled with passion and longing and others that are more like, "Hey, I don't even want to talk to You today. I feel nothing. I can't fix that, so You wanna do something about that for me?" I know it sounds irreverent, but it is honest. And it's in my heart so I figure why hide it from God? Throw it on the table, and let Him address it. If I'm hiding it I'm only lying to myself.

I hate (and yes, I intended to use that strong a term) formulas for prayer. There are tools people can use and they can be helpful, but I'm always leery of books that do the step-by-step "if you pray this way God will eventually answer you" books. First of all, who in the world am I that I would presume to be able to make God do anything. Seriously? Like He said to Job - where exactly were you when I formed the earth and all the stuff in it? Oh yeah, you weren't even a thought yet."

Second, God is not a "genie in a Bible" (yeah, that was a Christina Aguilera play on words, I'm a heathen). I don't ask a certain way, with a certain heart to get God to do my bidding - even if that bidding is noble (like healing for a loved one). If I'm a vapor here (and the Bible says I am) then how on earth can I possible have a full eternal perspective? I can't.

Now all that being said - do I ask boldly and ask big things? Do I ask God for the impossible? If God isn't a genie in a Bible and He's not an "If I do this, then God will do that" God, then what's the point?

Simply put, the point is so much more than we could dream. God delights in us as believers and He desires to give us good things. Go take a look at Jeremiah 29:11-13 for proof on that. If you look at the entire context of that chapter, the Israelites were just dragged into captivity for idolatry and general rampant sinning. And God tells them - I have plans for you to give you a future and a hope when you seek me with all your heart. WHAT?! He still pursues relationship with His people.

As I consider all this, I think that - like so many other things - a good theology of prayer is a theology of trust. Trusting in who God is, what He says about Himself, what He says about me, and what He says about others. When I see Him and me rightly - in the context of the Word - then my prayers are honest, raw, real, conversational, bold, and in His will.

What would happen if all the Christians were bold and completely raw and honest? Going boldly before the throne of grace, asking big and small, or asking nothing at all? What would our lives be like, what would our relationship with God be like?

What are your thoughts (assuming you made it through what is a very long post)?