The Power of Prayer

by    4th February 2002    0 responses
Part of the series

Having been brought up in a Christian home, prayer has been a part of my life from the very start, and no doubt there are many who share this experience. We pray before we go to bed, asking God to bless mummy and daddy and whoever else; we pray before meals, usually one of those rhyming ones that you know off by heart and don’t have to think about; we pray at church when the leader tells us to. The true nature of prayer often gets lost in amongst this routine, and it takes a lot of time and struggle to reach a stage when we can pray openly and honestly about the things we really need to pray about. And why is this? We are afraid of prayer. We are afraid that if we start to talk to God, he might talk back to us.

Let’s start right from the beginning, and find out what prayer actually is. It is not just kneeling down in front of your bed with your eyes closed and your hands together. Prayer itself can happen in any situation, no matter where you are, what you are doing, how many people are around you. I pray several times on a long journey, especially if it involves traversing the London Underground! There, on the train, is a perfect opportunity to pray. You don’t need to close your eyes or perform any ritual. Prayer is just simply talking to God. It doesn’t have to be said out loud, as Jesus says; “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men . . . But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”. (Matthew 6:5-7). Prayer can also take the form of a song. There are times when you feel such emotion that you can’t even think of the words to say to express to God how you feel, and if the words of a song explain it better, using them is perfectly acceptable, even desirable. God loves music, and David often sang and danced to praise God. Basically, anything that means you feel you are talking or singing to God is prayer. It does not have to be asking for anything, or thanking him for anything in particular. Sometimes it can just be an expression of love, or an appreciation of beauty, or a plea for help.

Many people are often put off though because they don’t know whether God hears them, and so they keep praying the same prayer over and over each night, ‘just in case He hears me this time’. It is so easy to become disheartened when you ask God for something and nothing happens, especially if it is something you really wanted an answer for. It is important to remember that God always has time for each one of us. He does not get fed up of us asking for things, neither does he get snowed under with prayers from all over the world. If God did have problems with listening to everyone at the same time, he would have put a rota in place so that we know when we can be sure God will be listening to us! Certainly not, as Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” There is no constraint on this. God does not say ‘ask and it will be given to you when I get round to it’, or ‘knock, and when I’m near the door next I’ll see if I can open it’!

It is so easy to underestimate the power of prayer, especially if all you have ever experienced of it is at bedtime or before a meal. God listens to all our prayers, not just the important ones, not just the little everyday ones. Everything you pray goes directly to Him. And if God created everything, which I believe He did, that means that I’m talking to someone who really can do anything I can imagine and more! As Matthew writes in chapter 21 verse 21, “you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Prayer, you see, is direct contact with the maker or all things, the only one with ultimate power over everything. We can quite happily thank God for giving us food each day, and for the fun we’ve had during the day, or for whatever He has given us in particular. But asking for things I find much more difficult, just in case God doesn’t approve of what I’m asking for. I think things like ‘perhaps this is too trivial for God’, or ‘does God really know about that?’, or ‘I’m sure that situation will sort itself out, I needn’t bother God with it’. Yet it is with the everyday things that God works the most. The miracles that surround us, when the photocopier works for you when I hasn’t been working all day, or when that person who is always on at you doesn’t take any notice of some mistake you have just made, those are God’s little miracles. Some call it chance, others coincidence, but I know that God has His hand in every aspect of our life. Praying that the shop has not run out of milk by the time you get there is just as much a prayer as one to look after your best friend who is going to Peru for a month. God is not picky about which prayers he answers. He answers all prayers, big and small, even if we don’t notice what it is He has done.

So how should we pray then? If God takes just as much notice of a prayer to bring someone back to life as a prayer to make my butter last until the end of the week, isn’t there some guideline to follow? Is there a ‘better’ way to pray? Prayers don’t need to be structured, they don’t need to have fancy words in them, they don’t have to be said kneeling down with your eyes closed. Some people do find it easier to pray with these aids, as it makes them more focused, yet others can just as easily pray in the middle of a crucial football match. It comes down to the way you personally find most comfortable. The main thing to remember though is that you are talking to the almighty creator, and as much as He enjoys a good chat about life in general, you mustn’t forget His awesome power and wisdom. It’s this amazing combination of God the maker and God the friend. It’s a bit like talking to the Queen as if she were your next door neighbour, only even more scary! Most importantly though, God loves us to talk to Him. Whatever it may be about, no matter how important we may think it is, He wants us to ask Him. So don’t be afraid of God, or of how he will answer your prayer. Just pray, and believe that God will hear and answer.

“This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’ ”

(Matthew 6:9-13).

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Matthew has long had a strong involvement with Christian websites. He was a keen contributor to the original Crossring site, and subsequently launched his own website, Focus On Faith. Focus On Faith was incorporated into Crossring in September 2009, and Matthew took on the role of lead writer for the site. Matthew works as a web designer, and lives in the West Country with his wife, Ellie.

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