![\"PrayerFell.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/PrayerFell.jpg\")
<\/span>I don\u2019t think prayer is mechanical. That is, I don\u2019t think if we \u201cdo\u201d things right \u2014 as the right way, use the right formulae, etc \u2014 that we will get what we want. But James makes a mechanical point about prayer that we need to think about. Notice these words from James 4:1-3:<\/p>\nWhat causes fights and quarrels among you? Don\u2019t they come from your desires that battle You
\nwithin you?want something but don\u2019t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot
\nhave what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you
\ndo not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nHere\u2019s a \u201cmechanical\u201d point that we need to consider when it comes to prayer: there is a profound interconnectivity between our relations with humans and our relation with God.<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/blockquote>\n
\nIf our motives are to possess or dominate others, we can\u2019t be connected
\nto God properly; if our desires and pleasures to have authority over
\nothers shape our prayers, we are not connected to God properly. I don\u2019t
\nknow that is as simple as \u201cget your motives right\u201d or \u201cget the right
\npleasures\u201d. Instead, I\u2019m wondering today if it is not more \u201cwhen you
\nare in proper relations with those in the messianic community then your
\nprayers will be heard because you are in tune with what God is doing in
\nthis world.\u201d<\/p>\nIt is far too easy for us to think about the Vertical and then to the Horizontal, as if being right with God makes us right with others. We might pursue this line of thinking today: the Horizontal shapes the Vertical as well.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t think prayer is mechanical. That is, I don\u2019t think if we \u201cdo\u201d things right \u2014 as the right way, use the right formulae, etc \u2014 that we will get what we want. But James makes a mechanical point about prayer that we need to think about. Notice these words from James 4:1-3: What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1777],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james"],"yoast_head":"\n
A Brother's Wisdom 64<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I don't think prayer is mechanical. That is, I don't think if we "do" things right -- as the right way, use the right formulae, etc -- that we will get\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Brother's Wisdom 64\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don't think prayer is mechanical. That is, I don't think if we "do" things right -- as the right way, use the right formulae, etc -- that we will get\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-04T17:31:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/PrayerFell.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/\",\"name\":\"A Brother's Wisdom 64\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-04T17:31:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-06-04T17:31:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"I don't think prayer is mechanical. That is, I don't think if we \\\"do\\\" things right -- as the right way, use the right formulae, etc -- that we will get\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Brother’s Wisdom 64\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Brother's Wisdom 64","description":"I don't think prayer is mechanical. That is, I don't think if we \"do\" things right -- as the right way, use the right formulae, etc -- that we will get","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Brother's Wisdom 64","og_description":"I don't think prayer is mechanical. That is, I don't think if we \"do\" things right -- as the right way, use the right formulae, etc -- that we will get","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2009-06-04T17:31:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/PrayerFell.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/","name":"A Brother's Wisdom 64","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-06-04T17:31:45+00:00","dateModified":"2009-06-04T17:31:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"I don't think prayer is mechanical. That is, I don't think if we \"do\" things right -- as the right way, use the right formulae, etc -- that we will get","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/04\/a-brothers-wisdom-64\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Brother’s Wisdom 64"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}