Written by Richard Foster, a contemporary theologian and author.
Douglas Steere said, “To pray is to change.” Frankly, none of us will keep up the work of prayer for long unless we are willing to change. We will either give it up, or we will turn it into a little system that keeps the form of godliness but denies the power of it — which is the same thing as giving it up. In prayer, if we are not into the life and the power of the Spirit we are not into prayer. When we begin to walk with God he is gracious, and marvelously answers our feeble, egocentric, greed-motivated prayers. We think, “Hallelujah, this is great! God is real after all.” Then, after a time, we try to push that button again and God says, “Wait a minute! I would like to be your teacher and to lead you into a more excellent way. I want to set you free of your greed and avarice, your fear and hostility.” We may chafe under that and struggle against it for a while, but in time we learn the goodness of God’s grace. We begin to be set free of our bondage to ourselves. We begin to live in obedience.
Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. [Psalm 118:5]
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