Many of us often feels frustrated regarding our prayer life. I do. Even the most mature among us will have to admit that he or she is also a beginner in the area of prayer. We don’t pray enough even though we know we ought to. Even if there are no straight answers to the question, Why pray?, we still believe that we need to. So there are frustrations, because what we believe doesn’t match with what we practice. Well, the solution is not to give up, but to continue learning. We are all in this journey together.
Philip Yancey, in his book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, admitted that he, too, is a beginner in this school of prayer. But he is learning. He said,
…prayer has become for me much more than a shopping list of requests to present to God. It has become a realignment of everything. I pray to restore the truth of the universe, to gain a glimpse of the world, of me, through the eyes of God.
In prayer, I shift my point of view away from my own selfishness. I climb above timberline [“limit of tree growth”] and look down at the speck that is myself. I gaze at the stars and recall what role I or any of us play in a universe beyond comprehension. Prayer is the act of seeing reality from God’s point of view. (page 29)
Like Yancey and the millions of Christians around the world, I am taking this journey. I hope that I can help you in some way by noting the difference between a meaningless and a meaningful prayer. After all, this is not my own idea. This is what the Lord Jesus, the Master Teacher, taught.
Treasuring Christ PH 