I have Family Circus cartoon stored in the file of my computer. It shows Billy at school taking a test while his mother and grandmother are sitting at the table in what looks like a posture of prayer. The caption below reads, “As long as there are tests there will be prayer in school.”
Certainly the Lord wants us to address Him and plead to Him in our times of crisis. And whenever there is a test there is a crisis. The Lord is a loving Father who desires to give good gifts to His children. He is interested in our lives beyond the times of crisis.
The person who relies upon the Crisis prayer to the point that they feel they have to introduce themselves to God. “Hello God, this is Bob, do you remember me?” Often those who think that they don’t need prayer until there is a crisis often become those who don’t believe God answers prayer. This crisis crowd very quickly becomes a mob of cynics doubting prayer and the very nature of God. Their view of god is limited to Him acting like a Genie or Santa Clause rescuing us from our own stupidity.
If we treat prayer like a Chinese takeout menu and God as the delivery boy then we very quickly be disappointed. Is that to say God will not answer crisis prayer? No. Is that to say that God will not use a crisis to bring someone into a deeper relationship with him? No.
Prayer is more than crisis resolution. Prayer is a two-way conversation. Lifting our petitions to the Father and He answering, shaping and refining who He is creating us to be.
