Prayer is a confusing subject.  Or more importantly corporate prayer, which hurts my ears on so many levels.  The name hurts my ears, most times when it's performed it hurts my ears, when someone is called on to pray it hurts my ears, when a preacher preaches his sermon before his sermon it hurts my ears...really the only time it's beautiful is when it's from a child.

Many times my prayer life, and I can only imagine our prayer life, has become clouded with performance.  I read a question yesterday where a lady wanted to know if she should tell her friend she had been praying for her, so her friend would feel encouraged.  I scoffed at her thought, self-righteoussly knowing that Christ is sufficient, Christ, the One shes crying out to will send the Comforter, so she doesn't need to tell her she's praying for her...but how confident am I in my own relationship to Christ that I could quietly pray and let God do all the healing?

My question boils down to this.  Am I more satisfied, or comforted in the words I am saying and where I am saying them, then to the One I'm crying out too?  Has prayer turned into just another attempt to find the right environment to feel good?