Prayer is one of the most important things in the life of a Christian. What is prayer exactly? why do we need to pray and the most important question of all, does prayer work? To answer these questions let us take a look at the definition of prayer and what the bible says about prayer? The dictionary defines prayer as “a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God”. Prayer in its simplest form is just simply talking to God.

Prayer was the one thing that all the heroes of the bible had in common. They all prayed to God. When Moses needed guidance from God to lead the people of Israel he prayed to God. When David was being pursued by his enemies he prayed to God. Daniel was put in the lion’s den for praying to God every day. The apostle Paul stressed the importance of prayer and often prayed for the church to grow. Jesus himself spent a lot of time in isolation praying to his father, especially for his mission on Earth.

In Matthew 6:6-8, Jesus tells us how to pray right before he teaches us the Lord’s prayer, “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.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”  Jesus was very clear about how we should pray, from our hearts. God already knows what we need and what is in our minds so we simply bring our requests before God. We are not to babble our requests to God but have a meaningful conversation with him.

If we are praying just for the sake of praying, as a ritual every day, then we have not really understood the meaning of prayer. Ephesians 6:18 says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people”. Prayer is our time to connect with God on a spiritual level. There is no rule or regulation regarding how or when we should pray. We can pray anywhere, any time, with any request.  The only thing to keep in mind is that your prayer is meaningful and that you are communicating what is in your heart and mind with your creator. The book of Psalms is filled with prayers from David, who was a master at just pouring out his heart to God. If we are not sure how to pray all we need to do is turn to the bible and you will find many examples of how to pray.

So back to the important question, does prayer work? The answer is, it depends on what you are trying to get out of prayer. If prayer is your way to communicate with God and to let him know your inner thoughts then prayer works. If you are expecting God to answer your prayer right away and work an instant miracle then unfortunately prayer may not work the way you want it to. Not everything that you bring up to  God in prayer needs to be answered right away. The Lord’s timing is different from your timing. The important thing is to keep praying for the will of God to be done. As Jesus said in the Lords’s prayer, we all need to say when we pray “Not my will, but yours(God’s) be done“.  1 John 5:14-15 says “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.” Prayer works because your requests are going directly to God himself and eventually He will provide a solution according to his will.