Quote:
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Originally Posted by W. Nee
Why do so many Christians pray such tiny prayers when their God is so big?
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This quote of Nee also caught my attention. Nee makes two faulty assumptions: 1) Christians only pray simplistic or 'tiny' prayers and 2) There is something wrong with praying for the more trivial things.
I remember as I was growing up in the LC, we were always told that we need to develop a relationship with the Lord through prayer. However, those leading us would always come in and try to qualify things
. They told us not to pray "help me" prayers, because the Lord doesn't want to help us, he wants to be our all. They told us not to pray for trivial things because it didn't advance God's economy. It thus left us in a state of wondering what we
could pray for. One of the things that this resulted in is that we developed a tendency to try to come up with prayers that would 'impress' everyone, especially in large gatherings.
I am reminded of what Jesus said:
Matt 6:5-7
And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
The Bible would suggest that what some in the LC might call 'weighty' prayers are nothing more than vain prayers. I'm not saying that all such prayers are vain, however, it could be a lot more than people in the LC realize. I remember attending prayer meetings, we would pray for an hour or more - God's economy this, Lord's move that. Most of the time I had no clue what specifically anyone was praying for. But it did sound impressive.