I have recently been reminded by how powerful prayer is when it comes to our lives. So often, it can be seen as some random mutterings of a monk that has nothing better to do. We can get familiar with the words of repeated texts. But, there is true transformative power in setting time aside to speak out your desires with God.
I think prayer needs to be demystified a bit. It is not a rehearsed set of words. It does not have rules. There is no “right way” when it comes to words or posture. The only two elements that need to be present is sincerity and faith. Here are a few logical points about why prayer works:
Focus
a) Prayer makes us put into words the things we are going through. It helps us define our situation, our past and our future. It forces us to express what we might be feeling. It helps us verbalise the dreams and hope we have for our future. It helps expose the struggle to ourselves. It is an avenue for us to “let out” what is happening internally. Without prayer, a person can internalise things to the point of explosion.
b) Prayer acknowledges there is something greater than our situation. In speaking to God, we have to begin to think about His perspective of our circumstances. Personally, it helps me see my emotion and internal life in the context of the world and in the context of history. God sees it all – the beginning of time and the end of it. He sees my issues, as well as the reasons why I have those issues. He sees the whole picture and how I fit into it. The moment I speak to God about my life, I find myself growing out of the confines of myself – understanding that I’m not the only factor in play.
Companionship
God said, “I will never leave you”. But we tend to feel lonely. Unfortunately it is a human tendency to retreat and hide and wait for God to find us. Just like Adam and Eve did once they had disobeyed God. We have access to God all the time. He is attentive and ready all the time. As you speak out and share your concerns and experiences with God – whom you cannot see – you will start to sense His presence. It may take some time. Sometimes it is really hard. But I always experience less loneliness coming out of prayer.
Significance
Communing with God automatically means that you come away stronger. In the Bible Moses climbs a mountain to speak with God and comes back with a face that shone so bright people couldn’t look at him. Thankfully, we don’t have to climb a mountain to speak to God. Jesus climbed the cross so that we all have free access to God. So when I connect with the One who designed and created me, I cannot help but leave being more of myself. There is a stigma about prayer – a notion that it is about fitting in to a formula. Prayer is not about changing yourself to fit a mould. It is about your soul returning to its original intended existence. Each day my desire is to become more like who I was intended to be. The only things between who I am and who God created me to be are sin and bad decisions. Both lose power in the presence of God. The only place we can be transformed is in prayer.
Power
Prayer is the frontier between the physical and spiritual world. There is nothing more assuring or exhilarating than seeing prayer answered. When things look impossible in the physical world, we have no choice but to believe for spiritual intervention. I have hundreds of stories in my own life of how God has intervened and changed the physical circumstance. Prayer is not meant to be something that is just one way. God responds. There is nothing better than experiencing God’s direct answer to your prayer.
Our prayers will define us. Our prayers will be the difference between our lives and those who are going through the same situations without God. Prayer works. God cares. Knowing him through daily conversation changes everything.