Prayer - Forgotten How?

Article for June 2010

Prayer has been taken out of schools and out of Parliament – and out of a LOT of hearts! In the main, prayer has fallen into disuse –unless someone is in serious trouble!
Many people feel that they do not know how to pray. Is there a magic formula to make prayers effective, to have them heard? In some ways, the answer is yes, there is a ‘magic’ formula, but not in the way most people think.
Jesus taught us how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. This is commonly called ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ and is used to be an example of HOW to pray not WHAT to pray. In this prayer we see Jesus giving praise and glory to God, recognising his power and majesty. We see Him praying for the Church and for unity between us and between us and God. We see Him praying about our daily needs and about forgiveness for our sins. We see in the prayer Jesus asking for guidance in our spiritual lives and protection from Satan.
This then is the ‘magic’ formula – to pray the way we ought to pray.
These prayers are to be fervent, sincere, frequent and need not be lengthy. Long, laborious, dull, dry and empty prayers are not worth the breath that breathes them. The prayer of the tax collector in Luke 18:13 is only 7 words long (God, have mercy on me, a sinner .') and yet this prayer was effective because the tax collector got what he prayed for – forgiveness. It was definitely sincere as he humbly bowed his head and struck his chest.
Are your prayers as powerful as this tax collectors?

Once again, we do not intend to ‘run’ your life for you. The choices are yours to make, but you need to know all of the facts to make a good decision. Do not just accept what has been written, read the scriptures for yourselves and see what God has said.