The most basic kind of praying, according to Foster, is simple prayer. This is the straightforward, dump it all in God's lap - however beautiful or ugly it may be - prayer. We don't like this kind of prayer. It feels selfish, self-centered, and un-spiritual. In church or small groups, we bring our requests before God, but we clean them up - we rarely get honest enough to say "my faith is failing because of this situation" or "this person makes me want to wring their neck!" No, we couch it in spiritual language. But in private, do we really bare all before God?
The heroes of the faith, at times, prayed this way. Foster lists several examples, including Moses when he whined to God about then stiff-necked people he had to lead through the desert - a rather self-serving prayer. Hannah in utter desperation prayed for a child. Jesus included simple prayer in his instruction on praying: "Give us this day our daily bread."
Not that all simple prayers are self-centered. Sometimes the cry of our hearts in for others. Usually, it's for others we know, but sometimes strangers as well.
It seems central, regardless, that we be honest with God. It's not like we're actually hiding anything from him anyhow. And in my experience, working to be honest with God helps me to be honest with myself - which is often a problem.
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