Prayer is powerful, but it is also mysterious. We should approach any moral certainties about prayer with fear and trembling. We can do a great deal of damage to ourselves and one another if we pretend to know precisely how prayer works—any beliefs or assertions that "it must have been God's will" or "if only I'd prayed more or harder" move prayer out of the context of a conversation in relationship and into the context of an obligation or exchange—a deeply flawed context that damages our ability to relate to God.
