Prayer (Part 2?)

I taught the teenage class last Sunday morning. I have to say, since we got the "new guy", I have really missed that part of my previous duties. The teens are so complex. They have such a strong grasp of the world, and yet at the same time, assume way too much. These guys are really smart, so I usually try to push them in their thinking. I admit that sometimes I push them pretty hard. It may back fire every now and again, but at least it gets their wheels turning.



This Sunday we opened with a prayer. I asked for prayer requests, and one of the teens said, "you know the usual: school and college." He said it rather nonchalantly. Well, this kind of set me off on a tangent. Imagine that.....



I asked them, "If you guys keep praying for the same things, are you really turning your requests over to God? Do you really believe He is going to step in, and do what you ask?"



As you can imagine, they didn't like this too much. "Are you saying we are not supposed to pray about school and college? What would pray for then?"



"That's not what I am saying. What I am saying is, when you pray that way (nonchalantly) do you really turn your requests over to God."



"But God says for us to pray about something we care about all the time."



"Are you sure about that?"



You can kind of see how the conversation (debate, then disbelief) went from there.



Let me see if I can explain my point now. For one thing, prayer is not JUST a shopping list. Western culture for some time completely misses the point on prayer. We get it in our head that praying to God is about asking for stuff like, good health, forgiveness of sins, clarification for decisions, prosperity, etc. This is basically a shopping list. This is not at all what God has in mind when it comes to prayer. Look at the great guys from the Old Testament. They "walked with God". They conversed with God in other words. Even better, look at Jesus. He would get up early in the morning to be with His heavenly father. He would sneak off to a solitary place to speak with Him. One of the greatest prayers is the Lord's Prayer. However, if that is our only format for praying, we are missing the point.



Prayer is so much more than shopping list. It is more involved than just stopping and thanking God for the food we are about to eat, then devour only half of a meal that costs more than a lot of people make in a month. We have to set aside time for prayer. We should block it off on our calendars. It should be such a part of our daily routine, that it would feel weird NOT to do it.



Also, prayer is a two way street. We sometimes forget, usually in our haste to get something, that we are actually TALKING TO GOD. Think about that. God wants to hear from us. God wants to talk to us. And sometimes, we just tune Him out. All we want, is for Him to give us what we ask for, overlooking the great gift of one on one communication with Him.



Don't get me wrong, we should pray fervantly. There are numerous passages about doing that. But there are also numerous passages where we are just to ask God. We are to "turn our requests over to God." We are to forget about them, with the understanding that God will take care of it. And just as there are prayers for those things that we are really passionate about, and prayers where we are just to "let it go", there are also prayers where we should listen to God. And these, I bet, are the hardest of all. God loves us so much. He just wants to have a relationship with us! Why in the world would we overlook one of the most important ways of communicating with Him?

So let me ask the question: what are your thoughts on prayer? Am I way off base on this?