The secret you discover in prayer …

Our prayers are often so ineffectual because we’ve been taught the focus of our prayers is to ask God for what we want or need, and then place our expectations on trusting we’ll get what we ask for. We even quote various scripture passages about seeking, asking, knocking, and being persistent with God for what we want.

There’s nothing wrong with doing those things.

BUT, that is not the greatest and highest purpose of prayer!

The secret we discover in prayer is that the greatest gain we have from praying is more of God Himself! Mitchell Dillon explains this “secret” to prayer this way …

When a Christian prays, three things might happen: He might get what he prays for, he might not get what he prays for, or he might have to wait. Similarly, when a non-religions person hopes for something, three things might happen: He might get what he hopes for, he might not get what he hopes for, or he might have to wait.

To the casual observer, there doesn’t seem to be a difference between them. This doesn’t go unnoticed by the non-religious person, who concludes that faith doesn’t really make a difference. He assumes that life is really just a matter of creating one’s own opportunities and a little rolling of the dice. If he gets what he hopes for, it’s good fortune. If he doesn’t get what he hopes for, it’s bad fortune. If he has to wait for what he hopes for, it’s an inconvenience.

The Christian, on the other hand, has a decidedly different response to the three possible answers to his prayers. If he gets what he prays for, it becomes an occasion of praise and thanksgiving as he recognizes, not good fortune, but God’s continued provision in his life. If he doesn’t get what he prays for, rather than become discouraged, he finds contentment in the assurance that God has something better in mind. Finally, if he has to wait for what he prayed for, he enters a period of leaning on and trusting God in the situation, believing that it will be resolved in God’s timing.

Dillon concludes with these insights:

So, what difference did prayer make? Did faith provide the believer with more stuff than his non-religious counterpart? Who ends up with more stuff isn’t really the point of prayer, but who ends up with more of God. God doesn’t want the search for more stuff to be our motive for seeking Him. Rather, He wants us to come to Him because we want more of Him!

When we commune with God over the events of our life, we gain rewards that are far greater than any of the stuff people seek. More God means a life filled with more praise, more thanksgiving, more contentment and more faith. The non-religious person places little value on these virtues, so he wrongly concludes that prayer doesn’t really make a difference. By contrast, the Christian understands that these are the real treasures in life, the things that make for a truly blessed life, and that it was prayer that made it all possible.

The great purpose of prayer actually isn’t found in the answers to our prayers — although that can be important — but it’s the experiencing more communion with God that is the richest reward we gain from prayer! Just from that relationship alone, we can learn to live with great expectations while making the focus of our existence one of offering our praise to God. The Apostle Peter explains this great truth like this:

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance — an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay,” 1 Peter 1:3-4.

What’s your purpose for prayer? Are you only seeking material answers for requests made, or are you seeking deeper communion with the One who made you?

Scotty