Ever notice those adds for nutritional supplements that promise the moon? One simple pill a day that can cure baldness and fight fatigue and re-grow cartlidge -- I see them advertised constantly, as though we wouldn't all be lining up for them if they actually worked. But we're always eager to grab for something that promises great things.
Somehow, though, we discount the promises of prayer. We'll try any medicine or get-rich-quick scheme or any other shortcut, but we hear the promises that God makes to us about prayer and we assume that it won't work or be reliable, so we skip that. We don't offer it the same credence that we often do to other things that make great promises.
Why do you suppose that is? Part of it is that I think we often approach God like a vending machine in the sky. We make a list of what we need for God to do for us, then wait for God to get results, which I don't think is in perfect keeping with the way our relationship is supposed to go with the God of the universe.
Remember how Jesus taught us to pray? They will be done. It's the hardest prayer in the world -- to set aside our own will and ask for God's will to take over. But if we can pray that, day after day, we'll grow as disciples, and God has shown us what a small group of committed disciples can do. They can change the world.
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