Oswald Chambers once wrote, “The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him.” In the same vein, the Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.”
Think about how communication matures between a parent and child. When small, children ask their parents for things. As older teenagers, they ask their parents for advice. As young adults, they ask their parents for time together. And as mature adults, they ask what they can do for their parents. As peers, they just enjoy spending time together in one another’s presence.
See how the focus changes? The process of communication shifts over time from asking for things to simply being together. And that’s how it is with prayer to God. As young Christians, we ask God for lots of “things” before we come to learn that He knows everything we need even before we ask (Matthew 6:8). And He doesn’t mind! In fact, even when we are more mature Christians, there are still times when we have to ask God for things we need in this life. The difference becomes one of focus: we change our focus from the things we need to the goodness of the God who can provide them. And we learn to appreciate His goodness more than the “thing” we thought we couldn’t live without.
Prayer, therefore, is God’s way of moving us into a mature relationship with Him whereby we learn to enjoy being with Him while trusting Him to provide “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
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