Underestimating the power of prayer

"Just." In most instances when it is used as an adverb it is such an unobtrusive word, isn't it? "I just arrived." Or, "Your timing is just right." Or, "He just missed the bus." Of course, such unobtrusive uses of the word "just" are not always the case. A recent conversation clearly brought that reality home to me.

The other evening my girlfriend and I were talking on the phone, discussing how her child and one of mine seemed to be drifting from the Lord. Intellectual conversations had not challenged either of our kids to "turn from their wicked ways"; instead, those talks seemed to provoke them to even more prodigal behavior. At one point I said, "All we can do is just pray." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized the stupidity of what I had said.

Without thinking, I had used the word "just" as a means of diminishing the power of one of the most awesome tools available to the believer. I could just have easily said, "I guess we are limited to merely praying, until we can think of something more effective to try." I shared with my friend that my statement was akin to President Obama moaning, "All I have in my retaliatory arsenal is just a nuclear bomb."

"JUST" pray? How insulting my words must have sounded to God. What carries more weight than prayer? What has more power to change the course of our nation or our hearts than prayer? We have a hotline to the orchestrator of the universe, to the mastermind behind the miraculous intricacies of the human cell, to the providential designer of life itself, and we act like contacting Him is an inferior, last resort? It's as if I were saying, "I've done all I can do. I've considered every truly attractive option, so I guess it can't hurt anything to try a last-ditch effort and see if God might be of some help."

Of course, that is not what I really believe about prayer, but words are important, and everything we say, as well as all that we do, represent to others the image that we have of God and of a life of faith. I intend to be more careful about my use of words in the future, but all I can say about my recent inadvertent diminishing of the power of prayer is -- I just better never do it again.