I don’t get prayer. I don’t get how prayer helps us. The mixed messages I’ve been exposed to drive me insane on this one. I’ve heard that God knows what we need. Why should we pray? I’ve heard that prayer works. Pray until something happens! But what if nothing happens? Some prayers are answered and some seem to NEVER be. Is it based on how strong your faith is? Is it based on how often you pray? How long you pray? How good you pray? Why is prayer given as the answer when there is hurt in the world? Prayer is not the answer. There’s been hurt in the world since Jesus; are we all just not praying right or something? People lose their jobs, their loved ones- they are wracked with guilt over things they never even did wrong- they suffer pain for reasons that defy physicians- I see it and it’s horrible. I know there are other things out there I can’t even imagine, maybe so horrible my heart would break if I saw them. What am I not seeing? How bad is it in the world and why do my prayers seem to do so little good? I don’t get prayer. I don’t get prayer.
I visit churches—I write about it.
Prayer is how we live out our relationship with God. It shows out trust in God. Prayers are answered, the problem is, God does not always answer our prayers in the ways we want, or the way we are looking for him to. Prayer is about your faith, not how good, how long you pray, but again, your trust in the Lord to answer prayer.
Nothing is more powerful than seeing one changed by the power of prayer. Finally, the last reason we pray, because Jesus prayed. He set the example for us, Jesus showed us how to be in relationship with the Father. Jesus prayed to His Father, because He trusts the Father.
And always, always end your prayers with, “God’s will be done, to His honor and Glory”
As for the hurt in the world, if we would spend more time in prayer and less time in the world and in doubt, we would see change.
Father Adam, I know you. I’d like more discussion on this one if you care to. How can one would know a prayer is answered if nothing seems to have changed? This would present exactly the same as no answer. How do you know God’s done anything?
My next question to you would be, when have you seen people in doubt stop questioning and pray, with the result that less hurt exists? The way I see it, hurt is our cue to go into the world and try to do something about it. My problem is mainly with the fact that simple prayer alone often feels like futility to me. I see more actual results when I take actions designed to help others. The “Just pray” line feels like a cop out.