Prayer

When one of my daughters was 5-years old she asked me about prayer. "You said that God answers all of our prayers. Am I supposed to hear a voice?"

That question haunted me for 25-years and I think the answer is, "Yes".

Prayer can be an act of worship, a petition for help, thanksgiving to the Almighty, and many things. At its root, prayer is communication between God and human. If this is true, we must ask, "Which of these two, God or human, is the most important speaker?" Obviously, the all powerful God is more important than his creation. We cause our own difficulties by not praying as a child and expecting an answer, a voice.

Perhaps the most important part of prayer is hearing what God says to us. Not only should prayer be two way communication, but if what God has to say is more important than our part of the conversation, it seems that the time we spend silently listening should exceed the time we spend talking to God.

Also, God may communicate to us through others and to others through us.

I wonder about how our thoughts may be directed at times by the spiritual. A theologian once suggested the possibility that Satan can project thoughts into our minds. He suggested that sometimes very good people have a very terrible thought seem to pop into their minds and they can't explain why such an evil and vile thought would occur. He went on to suggest that God also 'puts' thoughts and ideas suddenly into our minds. In any case, we must constantly search for the answers that God sends. They take many forms.

A mission experience is a prayer. Here, communication between God and human continually occur on deepening levels. Here communication between God and human occur through other humans, through the nature of poverty, through the simplicity of the lives of the poor. An amazing aspect of this communication is that you can deny it is happening and that you don't believe, but the communication still occurs.