What Prayer Is Not

The purpose of prayer is not to access the vending machine of God’s blessing. He’s not a  Genie of the lamp (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1at7kKzBYxI) or a Vending machine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vescUPhdT2k). Rather, prayer is inviting God into our circumstances, into our hopes, into our fears, into our dreams, and into our pain. Prayer is not working our way through a grocery list of requests that we desire God to perform or answer the way we expect him to. Prayer allows us to live relationally with God. Living relationally means you can learn to talk to God, listen to God, and think about God throughout your day—as you wake up in the morning, soak in the tub, drive to your next destination, sit in your favorite chair, go on a walk, compete in a volleyball tournament, or relax in a favorite place of rest.