Four Things That Surprised Me About Prayer

1) We can grow in prayer.

My first forty years seemed more like a repetition of “God is great and God is good, and we thank him for our food.”

Sure, I could mention different thoughts or needs related to health or relationships, and maybe an unreached people group now and then, but beyond that … what else was there?

I was surprised to find that we can actually grow in prayer. I have a different relationship with God today than I did five years ago. I have different kinds of prayers to pray.

2) Prayer has both patterns, and also endless variations.

We can learn basic forms. Yes, ACTS: the Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (as a throwback example to a memorable lesson in my third-grade class).

But so many options within those patterns.

My mom asked me once what I did during the three hours that I try to take weekly with the Lord (my mentor Bob Perry calls this “a watch”), and I couldn’t answer. Every week is different, but they have some similarities.

(I tried to put words to this, though, starting with a description of the daily hour I take, and ending with the three-hour version, in eight consecutive episodes on the Make Prayer Beautiful podcast, beginning with this one … over an hour talking about my daily hour. Crazy. Apparently I had a lot to say.)

3) So many things come in seed form.

I don’t know if everything in the kingdom comes in seed form, but many things do.

The Bible has 1,189 chapters … but how many millions of pages have been written about those chapters? How many lives transformed by its living and active words?

I sometimes think of prayer like a trip to Disneyland: enter through the ticket area and emerge into a park that stretches out before us.

The point is not the ticket counter. The point is the park.

And so it is with any relationship: the point is not the moment of introduction, but the relationship after the introduction.

We get to choose how much we want to enter in to that relationship.

4) Prayer is a paradox of acceptance and growing.

When we come to the Lord, we are already accepted in the beloved. God makes no requirement that we learn more about him, or that we communicate with him regularly. Already accepted.

But he also gives us gifts as we walk with him … including that we get to be called God’s friend.

And friends like to spend time together.

Lord, thank you that we come to you and our life with you spreads out like an amusement park before us: endlessly unexpected. Some rides we like more than others. May we also find unexpected treats as we explore the path ahead with you. Thank you. Amen.

May we live for the praise of his glory,

Amy Joy

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