Reactions to Prayer Link

Here's the link to the article on prayer: Dennis L. Okholm's Prayer

The first thing that stood out to me is that prayer is primarily an exercise in making requests to God and asking God to influence events. I guess that's obvious, but it feels a bit arrogant asking God for anything!

But the image that Jesus introduces of God as our Abba, our "Daddy," makes this a bit easier to take.
Jack and Sarah can come to me with requests, because they know that I can do lots of things that they can't even imagine accomplishing on their own.

Obviously, the distance between kids and parents is simply quantitative, whereas the difference between God and people is qualitatively significant. But the Bible does teach that we're created "in the image of God." That means that we can have a significant, personal prayer relationship with the creator of the universe. That's almost too amazing to comprehend!

A second emphasis is the spontaneity of prayer in the Bible. I am working to improve my prayer life specifically by becoming more spontaneous, more open to prayer in the moment, and not just as part of a liturgical routine. My last two days have felt covered in prayer. Not all of my problems have disappeared, but it is clear that God is helping me in my specific circumstances. Because I am praying more often, it is more clear to me how much God does for me each day.