Martin Luther is credited on page 125 of the Claim the Name Confirmation Book as saying that prayer is not "telling God anything" nor is it a means of "forcing God to do something that God otherwise would not do."
During confirmation class this week we asked some of our best theologians, our sixth graders what they thought about Martin Luther's ideas of prayer and what they thought prayer is:
Prayer lets us know peace that the burdens we bear aren't our own.
When people tell us they are praying for us, it can draw us out of a frenzy to a state of peace.
God doesn't do for us what we ask in prayer, but leads us to what he calls us to do.
Our prayer doesn't change God's will, it might change the timing of it.
When we experience a loss, we gather together and prayer gives us some peace.
We are healed through prayer when we realize we are "good enough" as we are.
Prayer allows us to work through the distractions and understand ourselves better.
We pray like we can change God's will and at the same time have the faith that God's will is best.
No comments:
Post a Comment