The Utility of Prayer

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Prayer is a very misunderstood and useful tool. It's purpose is not at all what most people think it is.

Imagine you are driving a nice big truck. Next, imagine that by some glorious coincidence, a total stranger gives you several boxes of expensive furniture. Problem is, the bed of your truck is filled with mounds of nasty garbage. There is no room for your furniture, and even if there was, do you really want to cram it among stinking filth?

So, what do you do? You grab a shovel and hop up there. You work up a good sweat shoveling out that nasty garbage. Then, you grab a hose and hose that bed down. Now it's clean and empty and ready for your furniture!

That is the purpose of prayer. The Bible makes many allusions to prayer as being an act of humbling oneself. What does humbling oneself entail? Well, if you've ever prayed good and hard, getting really into it and working up a sweat letting out all those unhappy feelings, all the despair, all the anger, and misery at the unfairness of it all, then you'll probably be familiar with what comes next: an overwhelming feeling of utter relief, bliss, serenity, and openness, as well as a feeling of increased connectedness with others. Congratulations, you've cleaned out your garbage!

Intent, faith, and discipline bring about your manifestation --- not prayer. Prayer is simply a tool to clean out a build-up of resentment, over-inflated ego that keeps telling you what you can or can not do, despair, and so on.
#prayer #utility

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