I posted this as a comment in a thread that started under my post to a group (The New Methodists) of this quote:
“There is something deeply hypocritical about praying for a problem you are unwilling to resolve.” ~ Miroslav Volf
A commenter wrote: “We believe in the power of prayer. Yet St. Paul writes faith without works is dead. Prayer changes us and encourages us to do the will of our heavenly father. Praying is the beginning of following our faith.” — Brooks Taylor (link to original comment :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/9550978460/permalink/10156425190213461/?comment_id=10156425326328461
I replied: I’ve long seen prayer as not just a “request line”. It is an opening of channels of communication, mostly (and almost completely) for my sake, that I receive from God what I need to move forward. There would not be a church if it were not for this. The church is a people who should be constantly “in prayer” (open to the call that God has for us in both the long term and the short term). Paul wrote that we should “pray without ceasing”. We are to be ever “on the channel” with one another to be able to discern what the will of God is. And be prepared to get our marching orders as to our role in carrying that out.