At times I do not feel like praying. Anything forced does not seem to me to be prayer; It feels more like doing the dishes only because my mom told me to.
And then, especially earlier on in my Christian walk, I would pray because I thought my prayer—the prayer itself that emitted from my self—to have power.
And then there is the transactional prayer—the praying that goes on at the same time as, in the back of my mind, a reciting of the score:
“I have been living this good way for you, God, so You will certainly honor this request.”
As I sat here early this morning, contemplating how to get going again with prayer after many days of back-burnering it, it occurred to me that if I really pray for God’s will to be done (as Jesus taught), then I pray without expectations.
The elimination of expectations disables any trusting in myself and my words and instead recognizes and relinquishes all power to the Holy Spirit (who prays for us even when we don’t know what to pray and are at a loss for words):
“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).
Rote prayer no longer exists for the same reason—it is no longer viable to think that my simply going through the motions will elicit an outcome. The Romans verse above clearly points this out, not so that we can simply never pray, but so that we can avoid, as much as possible, a rote sort of prayer that checks a box.
And the transactional prayer also disappears, again, for the same reason: whatever I do or don’t do, when erased from the scoreboard, frees prayer to be what prayer simply is: a pure two-way conversation with God void of past, present and future.
Many people will say we ought to remember the answered prayers of the past (meaning, I suppose the prayers answered in the way we wanted them to be answered and not counting the prayers that weren’t). I agree it is very well to remember past and current blessings of God, and to certainly enjoy that they will be forthcoming. But not as a basis or criterion for current ongoing prayer.
Praying without expectations takes trust, which is what I realize I have lacked when I initiated rote, self-power-fulfilling and transactional prayer.
This trust is confident only of “God’s will be done,” keeping myself out of it in every way. It is a trust that thinks on Him and Him only—not what He will or won’t do—but just Him.
This is the path, I believe, to the peace that the Bible says is beyond understanding. It is a trusting ignorance of outcomes content in a pure and simple faith in the person of Christ.
Copyright Barb Harwood
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
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