"Prayer is not so much about convincing God to do what we want God to do as it is about convincing ourselves to do what God wants us to do."
--from the Introduction of Becoming the Answer to our Prayers, by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.
Yesterday's discussion (or at least the part that I caught) made me think of this book that I read last year. To be honest, I didn't think it was as great as Claiborne's other books, but I did take some new ideas away from it. The main thing being something along the lines of: "Don't pray for things unless you're willing to be a part of the answer." For instance, don't just pray for poverty to end. Pray about it AND be a part of the solution. If you know a child that needs a coat but her parents cannot afford it (and you can), you don't need to wait for "A Sign" to tell you to just buy the coat and meet the need.
Anyway, very much on the same track with our conversation yesterday. We also own the book, and anyone is welcome to borrow it.
2 comments:
Good thoughts!
Good stuff Tara, thanks for sharing.
Heather and I were talking a bit about prayer. Spiritually I'm feeling like I'm having to learn things like prayer all over again. On searching for a quote from C.S. Lewis (regarding prayer and how it changes us - from a film...can't remember...), I stumbled upon this Barclay quote that captures it just fine:
"It may be that one of our great faults in prayer is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest we wait in silence for God's voice to us; we linger in His presence for His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him."
William Barclay, The Plain Man's Book of Prayers (this is unconfirmed, you know how searching the internet for quotes can be...)
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