How does prayer work?

We had a wonderful response to the ‘Top 6 Tough Questions’.  There were many questions that we will not be able to address in the sermon series, so we thought it would be a great idea to ‘muse’ on questions that didn’t make the cut. One of the questions was:How does prayer work and how do I do it? (If we are honest, most of us struggle with praying at least some of the time.)I will not be able to answer this question in great detail here but there are a few points worth noting. Often prayer can be difficult because we easily forget who God is, or we have an underdeveloped understanding of His character. When we understand who He is, then talking and listening to Him is so much easier. We observe in scripture God referring to himself as ‘I’ and He addresses us humans as ‘you’. (God is not an it.) He is always above us, never below us. He has presented himself in personal terms, so we must always approach Him in this way. Since He is personal, it should come as no surprise to find that His relationship with us involves two-way speech.In the Alpha Course Nicky Gumbel says that God always answers prayers. The answer to these prayers falls into one of three categories: Yes, No or Not yet. There is never a Maybe, as if God has to think it over before coming back with an answer. This can be frustrating when we want prayers answered straight away. We can begin to think of God not as the all-knowing, all-loving God but more like a genie.It is crucial that we remember what God teaches us about Himself through the Bible. Here are a few attributes: God is plural (Trinitarian) (Matt.28:20), perfect (Ex. 3:14-15), powerful (Ps. 135:6), purposeful (Matt.3:17), promise-keeper (2 Pet. 1:4), paternal (Matt. 6:4) and praiseworthy (Ps. 150:6). When we meditate on the true character traits of God, then prayer can be a whole lot easier.Most Christians pray differently during different life stages. As young Christians, our prayers can be more like excited burble before the Lord, in the same way my youngest son, Hugh, burbles to me about all the things he sees going on around him. As we mature as Christians, our prayers change and the style will also. We shouldn’t get too hung up on what is the right way to pray - just do it! Because of Jesus, we have full access to the Father and can come into His presence and speak with Him whenever we want. We must remember, wherever we are in our Christian walk, that the power of prayer is not in the prayer itself, but that God hears it.The earliest followers of Jesus asked similar questions. Let’s leave the answer to the Master: “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.?Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtor. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”Blessings, James