prayer is not changing God’s mind about us or anything else, but allowing God to change our mind about the reality right in front of us—which we are usually avoiding or distorting. “Leave your offering there before the altar, go first and be reconciled to your neighbor, and then come back and offer your gift,” Jesus says (see Matthew 5:24). Brilliant! Too many of us try to do an end-run toward godly prayer while still carrying a reservoir of stagnant water within us. Nothing new or good can happen in that old swamp.
