Try Praying

It’s the work of a traffic planner, a shop manager, a writer, a designer, an entrepreneur, a civil engineer and others.

A conversation on a train went like this.  The guy in his 20s was asked, “Do you ever pray? “  His reply was, “Yes.  I prayed for two people who were seriously ill.  One died and the other got better.”  He concluded he’d had 50% success.

This reflex – the desire to reach out to God – is basic to many, many people. Trypraying is a resource for people like that: no church connection or interest, but open to find out about God. The trypraying booklet is a 7-day prayer guide and is now being used by many to pass on to friends and family with a few words of encouragement – ‘Why don’t you try praying for a week and see what happens in your life?’  Start at http://www.trypraying.org/start-here/

Image and text: http://www.trypraying.org/

Prayer

We talk about prayer a lot, but what is it?  How should we pray?  Why should we pray?

Prayer is simply talking with God.  One of the fundamental issues the Bible addresses is our relationship with God.  In John 17:3 Jesus said that to have eternal life meant that we are to know God.  In fact in Matthew 7:23 Jesus says that knowing him will make the difference between saved and unsaved come Judgement Day.

So If relationship with God is that important, how do we build that relationship?  Studying the Bible is obviously important - it's the main way God communicates with us.  But prayer allows us to communicate with God, too.  We can tell God what's on our minds, share our joys and sorrows with him, ask for forgiveness, pray for friends, family and even nations.

Some people pray as if they were presenting a shopping list to God, but I believe we should also listen to what Jesus is saying to us (John 10:16).  The communication needs to run both ways, so make time to listen to God as well.  Another thing we should do is meet with others to pray (Matthew 18:20).  If your partner is a Christian you should regularly pray together.  Keeping God at the centre of your relationship can only make your relationship stronger.

There is another aspect of prayer that I believe is important.  If you have the gift of tongues, you should also pray in tongues as this will also build you up (1 Corinthians 14:4).

Finally, when God is working in your life, talk about it!  Share it, tell others - give God the glory.  In other words, witness to what God is doing in your life.

Images: Google Images