Why Pray?

In ancient times, people prayed to the gods (or, usually, to one of the gods) as part of an effort to strike some sort of bargain with them.  For example, a farmer would have prayed to the god of the fields in order to get a good harvest, or a centurion would have prayed to the god of war in order to win a battle.  Many people today have a similar attiude to prayer; they see it as a way to get God's attention, to ask God to help them out during a crisis, or more generally to get on God's good side so that they can go to heaven when they die.

In today's passage, Jesus's teachings about prayer turns this attitude on its head.  Proper prayer brings us into relationship with God, and it teaches us to trust him to provide for us and to be thankful to him for what he has already provided for us.  We should not pray in an effort to change God's mind about some situation we're dealing with.  Instead, we should pray so that God can change our minds--so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be renewed.  

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