Simple Prayer

“The Lord has heard my plea for help; the Lord accepts my prayer.” (Psalm 6:9)

People sometimes remark, “I’m not sure my prayer got past the ceiling.” Those who say this seem to be trying to objectify prayer, to turn it into some kind of entity that has a life of its own. We might wonder about the thinking that wants to concretize a spiritual event like prayer. This thinking tends to see prayer as a means of getting God to do what we want Him to do. Seeing prayer as a tool like this thus sets up a system of success and failure: successful are those who get God to do what they want, and failures are those who do not.

Is a different view of prayer in order?

Prayer is not me getting God to do what I want. Prayer is simply fellowship and communion with the God who cares and who can take action when it is His will to do so. Thus, prayer is me communing with the God who loves me, like a Father does. And in this communion, I then lay my plea before Him. I this way, I can thus know that God has both heard and accepted my prayer.

God’s subsequent response to our prayers is something we must simply trust to Him. Our requests notwithstanding, God knows best what we need. Prayer is thus a trust relationship with God.

Lord, Help us to keep our prayers before You today simple. Amen.