A Thought on Prayer

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Rom. 8:12-17)

In The Word is Very Near You, Martin Smith says,

"Even quite experienced Christians who are hard-working and caring people balk at prayer as yet another demand on top of everything else. Here is another quota to fulfill, this time from a supernatural boss, or another person to satisfy, a super-parent.

What if God does not demand prayer as much as gives prayer? What if God wants prayer in order to satisfy us? What if prayer is a means of God nourishing, restoring, healing, converting us? Suppose prayer is primarily allowing ourselves to be loved, addressed and claimed by God.

It is one thing to say that prayer is a conversation with God. It is another to say that God begins the conversation. But it is yet something else to say that God is a conversation. In God love ever flows between the Father and the Son in the Spirit....Our prayer is not making conversation with God. It is joining a conversation that is already going on in God. It is being invited to participate in the relationships of intimacy between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is an eternal dance already in full swing, and we are caught up in it."

Thanks to the Center for Biblical Studies for the quote.