“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).
When we pray, who changes? Do our prayers change God?
If we don’t pray for God’s blessing upon our families, was it God’s intent to not bless our families? If we don’t pray for God’s blessing upon our church and her ministry, was it God’s intent to not bless our church and her ministries?
Do our prayers change God?
Of course, that would be crazy. God already wants to bless our families and our churches. Then what changes when we pray?
The purpose of prayer isn’t to change God. The purpose of prayer is to change us; “that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that we may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.”
We are changed when we pray. We become more aware of God’s presence and his truth. We are changed by praying to God.
We pray, not so God will hear us, but so we will hear God.
Praxis: Faith in Action 