Prayer

"If the thing he prays for doesn't happen, then that is one more proof that petitionary prayers don't work; if id does happen, he will, of course, be able to see some of the physical causes which led up to it, and 'therefore would have happened anyway,' and thus granted prayer becomes just as good a proof as a denied one that prayers are ineffective." -The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

This quote shows the trap that we can fall into when we pray for things and Klaus Issler uses this quote in his book Wasting Time With God, where he explains how profitable petitionary prayer can be for us if we avoid these kind of traps. He explains how beneficial it can be to take even the smallest requests to God because in doing so, our faith in God will grow exponentially. This book made me realize how often I try to do things by myself first, turn to God only as a last resort, and then give myself or other things and people the credit when the problem goes away. What I should be doing is going to God first and giving him the credit when things work out(even when it appears to be a coincidence that would have happened anyway) because this is what will strengthen my faith in his ability to help.

There are so many things today that we can do ourselves, which is why we feel like we don't need God to intervene. But the truth is that God can still help us with anything we do. All we have to do is ask him. Issler challenges his readers to step outside their comfort zones and make requests to God that will stretch their faith in him. As Dallas Willard says, "The cautious faith that never saws off the limb on which it is sitting never learns that unattached limbs may find strange, unaccountable ways of not falling." God wants us to ask him for help in our lives because that is the best way to strengthen our faith in him.

An old hymn,
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer!