tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34346296.post3831274009823015676..comments2023-12-25T23:40:17.701-05:00Comments on Confessions of a Carioca: On the Efficacy of PrayerDaniel Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15980949721733826978noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34346296.post-46558218152512056732012-11-02T12:38:23.979-04:002012-11-02T12:38:23.979-04:00thanks for this. Had a wonderful weekend with Mike...thanks for this. Had a wonderful weekend with Mike Endicott and his teaching on the healing ministry. Highly recommended. He emphasizes proclaiming the Kingdom as the main point, and healing flows from that. Our prayers should be focused on thanks and praise. A nice nuance for most of us. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!Jeff Marxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05050839922405054732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34346296.post-87029930553538990452012-10-06T11:28:38.761-04:002012-10-06T11:28:38.761-04:00I don't view communication as a tool. To many...I don't view communication as a tool. To many people over the centuries, pray has been viewed as communicating with God. It seems to me that the "prayer works" mentality has a distant cousin, prosperity theology, which is heresy. "Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." If I pray long enough, I will get what I want. I agree this type of thinking cheapens Prayer. Prayer is literally entering into the Beauty of Holiness!!!silvercityrevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04657160132555238123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34346296.post-36355369688225993292012-10-05T16:41:27.394-04:002012-10-05T16:41:27.394-04:00I think of the way I suspect carpenters or woodcar...I think of the way I suspect carpenters or woodcarvers train apprentices--having the apprentice take up the tool and then putting their hands over them to help them to guide the tool. Perhaps prayer is simply allowing ourselves to be guided in the use of God's tools of redemption.Tom Sramek, Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17891982131922786298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34346296.post-43388599743849729892012-10-05T14:53:02.159-04:002012-10-05T14:53:02.159-04:00I love your statement that "The virtue of hum...I love your statement that "The virtue of humility, ever an aspirational virtue, seems to call for a certain degree of reticence in our statements about just how God is accomplishing his purposes." That, in a nutshell, expresses why the phrase "prayer works" (often said with a kind of smugness) has always bothered me. I will continue to pray without turning prayer into Blue Emu ointment! Thanks for an excellent article.Ellen H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01022281032757840635noreply@blogger.com