Nuggets from "An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith" by Dave Hunt - Concerning Prayer

Nuggets from “An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith” by Dave Hunt – Concerning Prayer

The major partner to faith is prayer. Most people (religious or not, and even professing atheists), when desperate enough, have devoted at least some time and effort to prayer. Generally, prayer is thought to be a religious technique for talking some “god” or ‘higher power” into giving the petitioner what he or she wants. Few indeed are those who truly know God and sincerely pray, “Not my will but Thine be done.” That attitude, however, necessarily belongs to those who by faith are confident that God truly loves them, is wiser than they are, and therefore desire His will, confident that it would be infinitely better than their own.

In attempting to use prayer to get their own way, those who pray (including many who call themselves Christians) try very hard to drum up “faith,” imagining that the key to answered prayer is to somehow believe the answer will come. If, however, believing strongly enough that something will occur causes it to happen, then one doesn’t need God. One could, by simply believing, bring into existence whatever one wanted without regard to any god.

And if that can be done, why bother with prayer at all? Why not simply affirm repeatedly what one desires? In fact, that is exactly what many people do, even those who are not at all religious. Positive affirmations play a large part in motivational and success seminars in the business world. If those who follow this practice, however, are willing to be honest with themselves, they must admit that this method is largely unsuccessful – for which we should all be thankful. How frightening it would be, and what chaos would reign, if everyone had the power to impose his or her will on the universe and upon the rest of mankind by affirming personal desires!