The Reward of Prayer

"I used to play a game with my two children," says Haddon Robinson in Jesus' Blueprint for Prayer. "I would clutch some pennies in my hand and allow them to pry open my fingers to get the coins. My children would sit on my lap and work feverishly to get the money. Once they captured the coins they would scream with delight and jump down to treasure their prize.

"I loved having my youngsters laugh and play while sitting on my lap. The pennies were insignificant.

"When we pray, we often concentrate on the gifts in God's hand and ignore the hand of God Himself. We pray fervently for the new job, or for the return of health. When we gain the prize we are delighted. And then we have little more to do with God.

"If we are only after the coins, God's hand serves only as a way to pay the rent, heal the sickness, or get through the crisis. After the need is met, the hand itself means little to us.

"While God in His grace does give good gifts to His children, He offers us more than that. He offers us Himself. Those who are merely satisfied with the trinkets in the Father's hand miss the best reward of prayer -- the reward of communicating and communing with the God of the universe."