At the risk of alienating a few people, I’m gonna throw this out there: healing prayer seems to be full of crap 99% of the time.

Here’s my deal: I’ve heard stories of miracles happening in people’s lives when they are prayed over for healing. It’s even happened to people I know. But I’ve also noticed that people pray for healing a lot more than it actually happens.

Sometimes I wonder if the more charismatic Christians forget that praying to God is not a way to get your wishes granted. Remember how Jesus told us to pray “Thy will be done”? That’s because it’s up to God to do the healing, not anything we do. So why do people pray over others for healing then act a bit disappointed when nothing happens? I’ve seen that a few times. Or worse, they say something to the effect of “well, sometimes it takes a little while.” Yeah. That’s called healing. You know, the kind that happens to all normal humans whether or not they pray to God or even believe in Him.

From what I’ve observed, it seems more like God sometimes works miracles in people’s lives, and sometimes it happens while someone is praying, so they assume their prayer had a significant role in the healing when God was going to do it anyway. I sometimes even wonder if it’s a little joke He plays just to throw people off. Yeah, I know. I’m terrible.

Sorry, call me a doubter or a cynic or whatever, but sometimes I feel like people are highly unrealistic about the whole thing. I probably just opened up a can of worms I’ll wish I never touched, but it’s how I feel.

Please don’t take this as an excuse to not pray if you are the praying type. Rather, see it as raising awareness of the fact that we don’t have special powers. Even if we have the faith to move mountains, sometimes God would rather we didn’t.

I grew up being taught the idea that prayer is simply “talking to God.” Lately, I’m starting to wonder if that’s very accurate.

If we are commanded to “pray continually” then the concept of simply “talking to God” doesn’t make much sense. If I were always actively talking to someone, I’d never get anything done in my day.

I think about what it’s like to spend quality time with someone I love. We aren’t talking the whole time; the awareness of each others’ presence is often enough. Maybe that’s closer to the truth: prayer is simply acknowledging the presence of God and keeping Him at the forefront of our minds in all that we do.

But there’s nothing active about that. What is the action of prayer? Maybe it’s active talking when we have a moment, but even then I wonder if there’s not much more we can do than take to heart and repeat the words Jesus told us to pray:

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

No asking for particular things we want or feel we need. No praying for particular people. It’s simple and it covers pretty much everything I could ever say to God without starting to feel selfish or over the top.

So what is prayer? I still don’t know. But lately, acknowledging God’s presence and saying those words, and those words only, has been more fulfilling than I ever would have imagined.