The Bible declares we are saints. That word means “holy people,” and though we don’t feel holy, it is precisely through prayer that our outer reality becomes aligned with our inner intention.
Prayer is not meant to make us safe but to make us saints. This transformation from selfhood to sainthood requires we allow our character to be re-formed. In the final analysis only saints can make a difference. The reason we struggle against this provocative truth is that we have forgotten that even the saints were sinners, like us. But sinners must pray, too. Not only so our sins are forgiven. Not only so we sin less in the future. But because we learn from God how to be like God. We need more of God, and so does everyone else.
Prayer does not flow from holiness, but holiness from prayer. We pray to become like God, to become God’s, and to refine ourselves into the people God designed us to be.