“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” (Matthew 6:7-8). Prayer is not a cry for help to a distracted parent who had no idea that His child was in trouble. God knows what we are going through a lot better than we do. Nothing that we could say in our prayers is news to the Lord. Prayer is also not some kind of negotiation. We will not wheedle anything out of our Father that He is not prepared to give us. So, if prayer is not necessary to inform and it cannot be used to persuade or coerce God from acting contrary to His will, then what is it for? One of our Savior’s titles is Counsellor. When we pray, we ought to see the Lord as our Counsellor, someone who knows the laws of the Universe and can advise us on whether or not this or that action will be in accordance with or contrary to those laws. If we look at our prayers not as a guilt trip or a power play but rather as an opportunity to lay out the problems we are facing, admit honestly that we have no idea how to solve them, sincerely ask for the opinions of One Whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts, trust that His advice really is for our ultimate benefit no matter the short term sacrifice we must offer up, and then have the faith to go forth and carry out His will to the best of our ability, then we will no longer be uselessly trying to warp our Savior’s will to suit our own selfish and short-sighted desires but will instead be striving to bring our will into alignment with the Lord’s. Jesus Christ is not a genie or a butler or a punching bag upon which we can vent all of our frustrations. He is our Counsellor. He will not always tell us what to do, but He can help us to see the wisdom or the folly of any particular choice if we will only seek and give heed to His counsel.
