To take a moment, be still, and pray is a challenge in today’s relentless age of consumption. What does it mean to stop and have a conversation with God? Before his discussion on the show, I sat down with New York Times bestselling author and renowned pastor Reverend Tim Keller to talk about the power of prayer and his new book, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy.
Laura Kim: What’s the point of prayer?
Rev. Tim Keller: Prayer is a response that people feel when they sense insufficiency. People reach out, even if they’re not sure that there’s a God, when they don’t feel self-sufficient, either their wisdom isn’t sufficient for the moment or their strength or something else. Since almost everybody, at some point, feels that insufficiency, and since there’s almost, not an absolute universal, but there’s a very widespread sense that there’s almost an absolute power behind the universe that when the insufficiency comes, it triggers prayer. It’s almost an instinct.
LK: So, when big world affairs, like 9/11, happen, you saw…
TK: That’s a great point. We had, like, over double, most churches in New York more than doubled in the week or two after 9/11. People who never went to church ever suddenly showed up in church to pray and just to feel connected to other people.
LK: The things you daydream about could reveal what you’re most concerned about. What do your prayers reveal about you?
TK: Well, I would tend to think that the things that you daydream about tend to be the things that you aspire to, and generally speaking, most people tend to pray when things are bad. When we’re worried, we’re more likely to pray. People also pray for things that they aspire to. … But generally speaking, I think people pray more in response to difficulties, troubles and fears than they do to aspirations.
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SOURCE: MSNBC
Laura Kim
