What's the point of prayer?

That thorn though.

"7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,[a] a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)

When I was 7, I remember praying to God and asking him for sunny weather in the summer so I could go swimming in the sunshine. If it was cloudy out, I would ask Him to clear up the clouds and open the skies so the rays could heat up the pool. 

Looking back on the past 13 years of my life, I find my prayer life has been like that a lot. All that's changed since then was that I desire the will of God. However, until 3 years ago, I prayed with a mindset that prayer was to "get things done". To me, and I dare say most people, we see prayer as a means to accomplish things. We ask God through prayer to know His will and for His will to be done, with an attitude of "get 'er done". "I need to pray for certain things so that God makes things happen." 

What if prayer is actually not just about that?

What if the point of prayer was not to accomplish tasks, but rather to transform you, to accomplish God's will, which is that?

And that is in fact the case. 

I'm not perfect. I do quite often miss the point of prayer myself. But all this is not to say that you shouldn't ask God for things, no no, please do so. He asks us to. God asks us to "ask, seek and knock" to know His will, that "His kingdom come and His will be done." When you can pray like that, you know that there's big changes happening within you. You know the Spirit of God is renovating your life. 

When we pray, we often have an agenda. We want the will of God, but we have things we hope for Him to accomplish in accordance with His will. Fair enough, this is true. But Jesus also shows us that prayer itself is the greater work. Prayer is meant to accomplish the will of God, which is to transform you to be more like Himself, more like Christ. 

So when we pray, the attitude shifts. Instead of asking God to (for example) "Take away suffering and pain", either for ourselves, or someone else, we ask God in the attitude of "Your will be done" and "May You transform me in this, that I would say, Your will be done in me." As a result, your focus is no longer so much on "Get this done, do this.." but more on, "How is God transforming me through this situation?" 

Much like Paul. He started off asking: "God, take this thorn away." But as he prayed, and as he sought God's will and heard God's answer, he was changed. God showed him the purpose of the thorn, and in turn, Paul praised God for it; he praised God for His grace and goodness in this. 

Prayer in itself is the working of Christ in you, it is a result of redemption. 

To quote Oswald Chambers: 

"Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work."