I’ve been praying a lot more these days. There have been things happening in my life and the lives of people I love that I have been discussing with God on a regular basis. I’ve also been thinking what a tremendous privilege it is to be able to pray. So I thought I would share some things with you that I have learned about prayer over the years. I’ll do so in the form of questions and answers.

What is prayer? It is nothing more than talking to God, being in communication with Him.

Ps 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

It does not have to be a big public display or flowery language. We just speak to God, and He hears us. Christian Prayer is not our idea, something that originates from man. It is God’s idea.

Why do we pray? Because God invites us to do so:

Ps 50:15  Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me

We also pray because we have needs:

Matt 7:7 Ask and it will be given you; Seek and you will find; Knock and the door will be opened to you.

We pray because we are grateful for what He has given.

1 Thess 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

To whom should you pray? That might sound like a silly question, but it needs to be answered. Your prayers should be addressed only to the True God, the Triune God. There have been some studies in recent years about the beneficial effects of prayer in healing. One researcher suggested that it didn’t matter to whom the patients prayed, just that they practice the discipline of prayer. That’s like saying it doesn’t matter where you send your letter, just so you write it.

Electronic messaging is a wonderful thing. But it is not very forgiving. If you do not properly address your email or text message, it will not be delivered to the right person. Type in one wrong letter or character and your message will not get through. It must be properly addressed. The same with is true for the prayers we send to God. They must be properly addressed to the only true God, the one who said:

Is 42:8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.

There will be more on this in the days ahead.