Posted by Dan Crawford on October 27, 2014 at 8:28
Lately, I’ve seen an interesting quote circulating. “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, Thank you, that would suffice.” Is that true? How does one reconcile this idea of only saying thank you, with Jesus’ comment to Peter, “I have prayed for you” (Luke 22:32), Paul’s frequent reminder to those to whom he wrote that he was praying for them, or James’ instruction to “pray for one another” (James 5:16). A colleague, who took the time to count, says 78% of the prayers in the Bible are prayers for someone other than self. So, who made this questionable quote? The quote is attributed to Meister Eckhart, also known as Eckhart von Hochheim, a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, who lived in the late 1200s and early 1300s. In later life he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led Inquisition, and tried as a heretic by Pope John XXII. I encourage you to pray lots of “thank you” prayers, but don’t stop with the advice offered in a popular quote from a heretic theologian. Go ahead and practice biblical praying through intercession, petition, and supplication.
your point is valid. Intercessory prayer for others and supplication for the saints is greatly needed in our time. Not that we should neglect thankfulness but just thanking seems to be almost a cursory approach like saying thank you for holding the door open for me. If thank you was enough, I doubt Jesus would have used the Pharisee & Publican to show who really was justified when the amen was said.
Comments
your point is valid. Intercessory prayer for others and supplication for the saints is greatly needed in our time. Not that we should neglect thankfulness but just thanking seems to be almost a cursory approach like saying thank you for holding the door open for me. If thank you was enough, I doubt Jesus would have used the Pharisee & Publican to show who really was justified when the amen was said.