5-minute Friday :: Prayer

Prayer has always confused me.

When I was younger and passionate about living for God, spending time studying and praying with others, even being part of a very charismatic intercessory prayer group, I always wondered why it felt incomplete.

Since then I've stepped away from most of the circles where prayer is on the program, part of the routine, or a fill-in-the-blank.

Right?!

I can appreciate the well-intentioned and genuine believers who lead these times of prayer, making sure no one's request gets left out. But I have never understood why we feel the need to repeat, almost word-for-word, what was just said out loud, as if God wasn't really there to hear it the first time. Or do we repeat it for our own benefit?

Regardless, I find that prayer for me these days is severely lacking words. When I tell myself I'm going to pray, groans fill my heart and bubble up instead of a poetic masterpiece. I love language. But my language cannot begin to contain my pleas for God to be with me. Isn't it communion we desire instead of merely communication?

With.

I am reading the book 'With' by Skye Jethani with a group of friends. I am only half-way through, but am amazed at the profound but simple truths he draws to the surface. Today I read about how Jesus didn't die merely to inaugurate a mission or to give us a second chance at life. He did not just demonstrate principles of love for others to emulate or to appease divine wrath. "While each of these may be rooted in truth and affirmed by Scripture, it is only when we grasp God's unyielding desire to be with us that we begin to see the ultimate purpose of the cross."

What does prayer look like from the perspective of living with God?

Jethani tells the story of Mother Teresa being interviewed by Dan Rather in the 80s. He asked her, "When you pray, what do you say to God?"

"I don't say anything," she replied. "I listen."

"Okay," Rather said, taking another shot at it. "When God speaks to you, then, what does he say?"

"He doesn't say anything. He listens."

Rather didn't know how to continue. He was baffled.

"And if you don't understand that," Mother Teresa added, "I can't explain it to you."

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