The Grifter Prayer

"Grifter" is a word coined in the 1920's that combines "graft" and "drifter" in to a term referring to a con artist, someone who deceives in order to get something he wants.

A lot of folk pray that way...trying to gain God's confidence through feigned or actual obedience as leverage for his favor in a matter. They engage with God, not with intent to discover God, or to praise him, or to honor Him, but to get him to do something, fix something, provide something ...basically, to con him.

The grifter approach to prayer may not always be a conscious intent. The pressure of real needs in life often moves us there without thought. But, it most often boils down to an attempt to convince God that my goodness is worth his blessing.

When you think about it...trying to con an omnipotent, all-knowing, all-present God, who can see right through you is not all that bright. But, each of us has tried it at one time or another.

The fact is, prayer is much more than asking God to activate a wish list. It is a primary means of discovering God who created us to be in relationship with him...to walk with Him and to learn from Him.

Imagine time in prayer, not as a means to convince him to do something, but as a type of on-ramp merging with what he is already doing...merging into His spirit and power, manipulating our spirit as He pleases to accomplish His intent in us and through us.

Having yielded myself to him my responsibility now becomes prayer...seeking his assignment in the flow of what he is already doing.

Pray. A nation is at stake.