Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Power of Prayer Message-ID: Date: 30 Mar 91 07:59:04 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: WINCO Computer Engineering, INEL, Idaho Lines: 27 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu I said: >Prayer is more than asking for things. Much more. I don't spend all my >time with my wife asking her for things, and neither should we spend all >our time with God asking for things. Talk to him. Like he's right there Prompting johnw@sag4.ssl.berkeley.edu (John Warren) to ask: >Why not pray for what we want? The worst God could do is answer no, and >tell us why, or answer 'wait', which (given my impatience) is probably worse. There's no problem with asking for things. My point was that that's not the whole point of prayer. God is not a giant vending machine that will give us what we want if we push the right buttons. Neither is He our magic genie. He is the Lord of the Universe, and we should be amazed that he even invites us into His presence. And when we consider that we are invited to come *boldly* into His presence, and He calls us friends, that is simply mind-boggling. I would hate to abuse that priveledge by spending all my time saying, ``Can I have this? Can I have these? Can I have one of those? I want that!'' (Not that that's what I'm saying you're doing. Just commenting on the tendency as fallen creatures to be more interested in a magic genie than in a living Lord.) -- Geoff Allen \ Since we live by the Spirit, uunet!pmafire!geoff \ let us keep in step with the Spirit. geoff@pmafire.inel.gov \ -- Gal. 5:25 (NIV)