Prayer and the Christmas List
Like thousands of kids around the world, I too have a Christmas list. It's a short list (compared to my grandson's list). Here it is: baseball glove mitre saw a new roof mock turtleneck belt Although it is a brief list, it does reveal something about my heart's desires. In a sense, a prayer list is just as revelatory. Here is my prayer list: finances good health missionaries family church There is nothing inherently wrong with either list, except that neither list brings me closer to God. Augustine received a letter from a Christian believer, Anicia Faltonia Proba (died AD 432), a Roman noblewoman who was afraid she wasn't praying as she should. Augustine responded with a brief essay that outlined four principles about prayer. The first principle is that before we pray, we need to become a certain of kind of person—one who "accounts himself desolate in this world, however great the prosperity of your lot my be." Tim Keller in his new b