We often look at prayer as twisting God’s arm to do what we want. We add up numbers, thinking that the more people you have doing the praying, the more likely He is to be swayed by the amount of people and do what you are asking. And in even more terrible news, sometimes we blame whoever was praying for a lack of faith if they don’t get the thing they were praying for in the way they wanted. I don’t find this true to Scripture, and really painful for many people.

I think that prayer is an invitation into a conversation with the Trinity, a chance to move from my own perspective to God’s. Prayer becomes a place for me to align my heart with His, for me to recognize the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. For Jesus, prayer was a place of continued conversation with the Father as He only wanted to do what the Father empowered Him to do. It was not transactional, but relational.