I received a response from a church member that I want to share with you:
"Given conversations you and I have had, I know that we agree that God isn't like a giant Santa Claus or Wizard of Oz who doles out favors based on how well you ask for them, (contrary to traditional Christian pop-theology of "The Secret" sort) THIS sort of involvement on God's part is not part of what prayer brings us.
But prayer might result in God's greater involvement in the following way: In regular conversations with God, I hear Him calling me to do certain things or to come to understand certain things. Suppose I finally hear what He is telling me, and I say, "Ah ha! Now I get it!". Then God says, "Okay, now that you've got that, here's what We're going to do . . . ". Strictly speaking, THIS is God getting 'more involved' in what I'm doing, because I'm engaging with Him, not just petitioning Him to give me stuff I want. So, I'd have to say that strictly speaking, I DO think that prayer makes God more involved in our lives - of course it must, since I think that is the whole point to being in conversation with Him, no? - because it is where we let Him in in the most intimate way, allowing Him to be more involved.
In addition, I do think that where God has the power, He can work miracles. But here's the rub: It seems that God is not omnipotent in this world. This is my personal belief, that He just can't work any old miracle any old time. If He could, THIS would be His Kingdom, and a perfect replica of 'heaven'. I think of God with His head in His hands half the time, and the words, "Oh, for heaven's sake" on His lips, as if to say, "The Earth is a dangerous place and I have to make sure I can get everyone out of there". I don't know how it all works, of course, but I could guess.
All I know is that an omnipotent God - one who has full control over every aspect of this world would be like the Old Testament God who shatters the heads of people on rocks (Psalm 110). This simply isn't consistent with what we know about a loving God....the God revealed to us through Christ. I choose to believe that He's loving and good, deeply involved and interested in our life but not all powerful in the sense traditionally endorsed."
I can't add much to what is said in that comment, except to speak for a few moments about evil. We often do not speak about the power of evil in the world. We have absolutely no accurate clue regarding the degree and magnitude of the powers that God holds at bay. We may often (perhaps too often) abdicate our own responsibility when it comes to participating in the fight against widespread epidemics of disease, violence, poverty, starvation and injustice.
We tend to glaze over the fact that prayer is one of the fundamental weapons we have against evil's efforts to claim us. Prayer establishes our focus upon God. We stand solid in what Jesus taught us about God, His Kingdom, and how we are to serve in that Kingdom. Prayer also shifts us into God's mysterious presence where, at least for a while, we agree to set aside our frenzied need to "know" and embrace the peaceful rest of trust, faith and hope in all that God has promised us.
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