George MacDonald on prayer requests

From this coming Sunday's Lectionary Bible readings:

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4-7, NRSV)

The excerpt below comes out of From the Library of C.S. Lewis, a compilation of short selections from writers across the Christian tradition, all of whom had some influence on the thought of C.S. Lewis. If you are looking for a "reader" in the Chrsitian Tradition, an absolute necessity for the United Methodist pastor, this is an nice one.

But if God is so good as you represent Him, and if He knows all that we need, and better far than we do ourselves, why should it be necessary to ask him for anything?"

I answer, What if He knows prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God's idea of prayer be the supplying of our great, our endless need - the need of Himself? What if the good of all our smaller and lower needs lies in this, that they help drive us to God?

Hunger may drive the runaway child home, and he may or may not be fed at once, but he needs his mother more than his dinner. Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other need; prayer is the beginning of that communion, and some need is the motive of that prayer. Our wants are for the sake of our coming into communion with God, our eternal need.