Prayer 12/2/2019

In the book the Phenomenology of Prayer, there were three themes about prayer that stuck out to me. The first was that we are always learning how to pray. The second theme was that prayers go beyond, therefore we become more than who we were. The third theme was that there is a balance between praying and who we are praying to. This post will focus on the first theme of prayer: we are always learning how to pray. Edward Mooney suggests that prayer is arising out of our passionate life. Prayer is communication with God. Direct line talking to God.
Let’s take a step back. If you discover that something is wrong with the wires on your television, you call the electrician because you believe that he is qualified to provide help with such a thing. If your bathroom starts to flood, you call the plumber because you believe that he is qualified to provide help with such a thing. So it is with prayer- one prays because one believes that God is qualified to provide help with such a thing, whatever it may be. There is passion in this belief, there is zeal in this belief. Because one believes that God will deliver for them, one communicates to God, and that communication is oftentimes done through prayer. As we explore our passion for God, we explore our communication, our prayers with Him, and as we get to know Him, our relationship with Him becomes stronger. It’s an ongoing process- through time, we get to know Him, and through time, our relationship with God gets stronger. It is all through time.
Mooney also stated that with everything else going on in our lives, and the honest, plain complexity of life as a whole, through prayer, the prayer will work in our lives, and we come to see prayer as moving us toward a more compassionate, merciful, faithful, and responsible life. I attribute this to the benevolence of God. Through prayer and our communication with Him, our lives begin to change for the better, and we as humans begin to change for the better. Again, this is through time, that over the time as we pray, these benefits being to come about.

In short, the theme that was we are always learning how to pray. Prayer is communication to God, initiated by one’s passion and zeal for God, and through it, and especially with time, one’s life and whole being will be’ positively affected.

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