Prayer is Dangerous

By: admin | Date: November 18, 2015 | Categories: Prayer, Uncategorized

Knowing all this-that prayer is dangerous, that it moves our language into potencies we are unaccustomed to and unprepared for it continually puzzles me that so much prayer sounds so limp, that prayer is often so utterly banal. The limpness and banality may be no more common in pastors than in laypeople, but they are more conspicuous in pastors, who are more often on public display.

Question: How does it happen that language used at the height of its powers comes out of pastoral mouths stagnant and stale?

Answer: It has been uprooted from the soil of the word of God.

These so-called prayers are cut-flower words, arranged in little vases for table decorations. As long as they are artificially provided for with a container of water, they give a touch of beauty. But not for long: soon they drop and are discarded. Such flowers are often used as the centerpiece for a dinner table. They are lovely in these settings. But they are never mistaken for the real business of the table, the beef and potatoes that promise full bellies and calories for a hard day’s work.

Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another-showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped for the tasks God has for us.

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17

Eugene Peterson in Living the message, p. 88 (March 21)