I, unlike most talk show hosts, like to make statements that are not controversial.  Statements that most people agree with.  Maybe it is because I value peace and harmony, and not conflict.

So, here’s the statement that I feel works for most, if not all, people (except agnostics and atheists!).

Relating to God is very important.

In case you are ready to pounce on that one, and destroy the sense of universal acceptance I believe it garners, I’ll defend it with a few facts.  Think about it. How many religions of the world have built within them elaborate rituals/traditions/ceremonies in an effort to relate (rightly or wrongly) to the One they call God?

The three major world religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – all teach relating to the divine being, through prayer.  Prayer five times a day (in the case of Islam).  Prayers handed down through the Torah, through the rabbis, originating with Abraham (Judaism).  And in Christianity, prayer takes on many forms.

I grew up Catholic, and no catholic makes it through without learning to  recite prayers.  The Our Father and the Hail Mary being the two I remember.

Then, in my big switch to Protestantism, when I learned about a “personal faith,” I began to read the psalms as my own prayers.  Some of those psalms of David are pretty personal!

The Sinner’s prayer was also a major prayer to say in the Protestant world.  My impression was that this was the prayer to say to convert from being a heathen to a believer.

And, as I learned more about God and faith, I learned that the exact words ‘did not matter.’ My prayers turned toward my own ‘needs’ – and the needs of others.  Lord, please keep me safe on this airplane.  Lord, please help me find my keys.  Lord, please restore my friends marriage.  Lord, please heal Susie’s cold.  In Jesus’ Name.

It does – still – amaze me that the Lord could be attentive to my needs and the needs of my immediate circle – big and small – and attentive to the needs of everyone else and their immediate circles, ad infinitum.

Before I go further, I believe that any of these, and all of these, prayers can be effective.  But, truthfully, I know that the quality of some of the prayers I have prayed has been meaningful, while that of others has been meaningless.  What separates the two and gives them distinction?  What makes a prayer meaningful?

And here’s the answer.  Meaningful prayers look and feel like the prayers that Jesus taught His disciples. Jesus is the one to follow, as He is so intimately related to God that He and the Father are one.  And, as I began with, relating to God is very important to us.  To me, and probably most.

And Jesus uses the same word, meaningless, in referring to prayer.

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. ” – Matthew 6:7

Jesus goes on to say, “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” – Matthew 6:8

Obviously, prayer is huge subject.  But it is clear on this point, that

prayer to the Father, to be meaningful, needs to start with trust that the Father already knows the need before we ask Him.

I read recently on a blog about a person who decided to put this into (literal) practice, and verbalize only once to God for a specific need.   She or he found that asking again and again diminished their faith and trust that God had heard and “was working on it.”

It magnifies God’s care, love, and goodness toward us if we have confidence that He in informed.  God knows – in advance of our prayer – what we need, and doesn’t need a lot of verbal prompting to meet that need.

Perhaps the verbal gymnastics I have gone through to get God’s ear by asking and asking, and asking again – for the same thing, diminish His true character and loving heart toward me?  As if He were deaf, uncaring and oblivious the first time I asked, like a preoccupied parent more engrossed in his newspaper than listening to his child.

Preoccupied? Busy? Distracted? Oblivious? This is not the character of God that Jesus portrays.  So, Jesus, knowing the way our mind works and ultimately being the truth-teller about the Father, discourages me from acting like He has these qualities.

Instead, He encourages the type of praying that keeps the true – loving, caring, all-knowing, benevolent – character of God front and central. And praying with God’s heart and character in the forefront of my mind, I think effectively eliminates the meaninglessness of repetitious, “same ol’, same ol” praying, going through my list again and again.  In fact, it can make prayer quite meaningful.  Thoughts?