If you have a problem? Just add prayer.

If you need something? Just add prayer.

Everything will be just fine.

There’s some truth to this, but it’s not what we often expect it to be. We distort what God intends through prayer.

Prayer is about a relationship, not immediate gratification.

When we pray, everything will be just fine, but it’s not the “just fine” we might think. Just because we pray doesn’t mean we’ll get everything we want when we want it. In fact, I can guarantee you will not always get what you want when you want it. But through prayer, everything can be just fine when we’re going to God with a desire to rely on him instead of getting what we want. Because prayer is about a relationship, not the outcome, the simple fact that we’re approaching and trusting God through prayer provides the “just fine.” Just fine is a peace of God’s presence. It’s the security of a relationship. It’s  yielding to God’s perspective instead of expecting an accuracy of our own.

Prayer isn’t about instant gratification of getting what we want and expect and perhaps even believe we have the right to have. Selfishness doesn’t always come in the form of things that obviously pull us away from God. We can be equally as selfish about the very relationships and situations with which God has blessed us. All it takes it holding people and situations too tightly in our own hands instead of remembering that any blessing that we have is from God.

I have heard many people request prayer then later report how “God answered our prayers,” meaning “we got what we asked for.” We can potentially do a lot of damage to our own and others’ faith when we minimize God’s answers to only being that which is consistent with our own desires. God is always answering prayers, but many times he answers with a “no” or “not now.” We don’t have to like everything about our faith journeys and prayer lives. In fact, to believe we will masks the reality that we live in a messy world. Everything isn’t going to go smoothly here.

We can’t “just add prayer” and fix everything.

However, prayer does, indeed, fix something without fail. When we authentically seek God through prayer, our relationship with him grows. “Just add prayer” isn’t a quick solution to all our problems, but it’s a long-term solution to our most chronic need for a relationship with God.