Certainly, prayer is such as huge subject and only look to cover a few points on this blog. I want to begin by saying that anyone can pray, you don't need to understand everything about the Christian faith or be religious. Prayer is open to everyone, despite our differences. I love to see the Anglican churches opening their doors, so people can light a candle that represents their personal prayer. It's a powerful way of getting our thoughts together, ponder on life and on others.What if this kind on pondering was available daily to us? It's fascinating to note that science has now proven that meditation is good for us; to actually stop for about 20 minutes of the day and just allow our thoughts to form. It can help clear our heads and keep us focused. It's interesting then when we realise that prayer is the very act of meditation, thinking on our life, our worries, our concerns, our family, our friends and saying prayers for them which can be done anytime, anywhere, we don't have to wait until we are in church! There is nothing we are going to lose from prayer as many people can be touched by it as I will explain further.
So why would there be any power in a simple prayer? I want to discuss for a few moments about the character of God himself. God does not exist within space and time. Time is not something He is bound to. Humans can only know for sure the past and present and we do not know the future. Can you imagine a person who knows the future; someone who has already seen it, wow that would be amazing, a person that could access all time zones of our lives! Well we know from the bible that it says that God is omniscient, meaning He knows everything that can be known in time and outside of time! This is getting heavy I know, as well as that we know that God is omnipresent, meaning He can be everywhere all at the same time, as well as omnipotent meaning he has all power. If all these things are true about God then surely when we pray he has already seen our prayer in the future, and therefore could have already answered our prayer before we ever pray it, he could have already set events in motion to answer our prayer. It means, as we pray for our friend or family member, He can be with that person we are praying for. It means that He can access any moment of time and as we ask Him, can alter the course of history! As God operates outside of time, we can be sure that our prayers do too. As our prayers are not affected by time, then prayers could be answered straight away or some prayers may even out-live us, being answered when we have already left our earthly life. Wow!!
This is why prayer is powerful; I hope you can understand what I am saying. I don't know if any of you have seen the film 'Interstellar', there is a poignant moment at the end where the main character gets sucked into the centre of a black hole; a place where time does not exist as we know it, it was a kind of 4th dimension. He could suddenly see His daughter's life moment by moment and could access those moments, it reminded me so profoundly of the characteristics of the Christian God. If anyone knows anything about quantum physics we know that it talks about energy and that energy can move anywhere and be in several places at the same time. We suddenly get a glimpse of this God we are talking about; it's not as fairy tale as one may think when we start looking at the science. Someone living in a 4th dimension would know so much more than we could ever know; a God-like being. I'm not suggesting God is living in the 4th dimension, but trying to make the point that He is so much bigger than we could ever imagine with the understanding of our human minds and when we pray He is already there! Psalm 18 v 6 says, "In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. He heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears" and Psalm 34, 15 - "The LORD looks on the righteous, and he listens to their cries". Also if you believe that God created us to love and be loved, then surely it is important that we care and pray for each other which thankfully is still a big function of the modern church today. There are a few limitations on prayer however. Firstly it says in the bible that prayers should be said in faith, believing that God is able to do what you have asked. Prayer is also linked with the will of God. Even when Jesus was going to be murdered on the cross He prayed to His Father, 'I would rather this cup be taken away from me, but even so not my will but yours'. This is even in the Lord's prayer so it must be a very important aspect of prayer. Finally, I believe prayer should be sincere and not just a list of wants for wants sake. God sees the heart of the prayer and whether the prayer is honest, genuine and coming from a good place.
A small prayer therefore, is not a meager one but powerful, when we realise who we are praying to. Let us not become weary of praying, but get excited again that prayer can really change things.
Bible verses on prayer (although the word pray is mentioned over 300 times in the bible)
Luke 11 v9-13 - And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Phil 4 v 6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Matt 21 v 22 - And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
Matt 18 v 20 - For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."
(Some of the scientific ideas in this blog have been researched & discussed by by Dr Robi, http://www.drrobi.com and Dr Caroline Leaf http://drleaf.com/)
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