Asking, Power and “Learned Desperation”

Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life

The issue of power—the ability to make a difference, to change something—is at the heart of asking (113).

[P]ower in prayer comes from being in touch with your weakness. To teach us to pray, Jesus told stories of weak people who knew they couldn’t do life on their own. The persistent widow and the friend at midnight get access, not because they are strong [nor because their requests are “spiritual” or even all that altruistic] but because they are desperate. Learned desperation is at the heart of a praying life (114).

All of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Gospels can be summarized with one word: ask. His greatest concern is that our failure or reluctance to ask keeps us distant from God. But that is not the only reason he tells us to ask anything. God wants to give us good gifts. He love to give. . . . Deep down, we just don’t believe God is as generous as he keeps saying he is (154-155).

Luke 11:9-13

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”