Prayer... how do you do it?

Prayer - why do you pray? What do you pray for? What are you actually doing?

These questions and more are ones I have asked myself recently. It is easy to make prayer a 'shopping list' of requests for God's intervention in worldly matters and I am often conscious that I am asking so much while giving so little in return. But that's the thing isn't it?

I realised this week that the power of prayer lies not in the act of prayer itself, the power lies with God and His will, nowhere else. Prayer is the vehicle through which we see glimpses of God's grace. I say this because driving home I felt a guilt at forgetting to pray about an issue I had previously noted... the insinuation my subconscious was trying to impress was that if I didn't pray then God wouldn't know what to do... what a fool I am!

Praying is an act of faith which God delights in. It is an act of faith on our part everytime. It is us saying "show me, guide me/them, help me/them, encourage me/them." because we realise we need and crave His intervention at every turn.

It is of course much more than that also. It is praise, thanks, penitance, obedience, reconciliation and hope amongst I'm sure many, many other things. But whatever the context prayer is an incredible act and while it can be so formalised and reverential it is also the most informal, personal conversation you can ever have.

There are suggestions in the bible that prayer changes God's mind on certain issues. The problem I have with this being that an omniscient God would know that His mind was going to change. Ergo: it isn't a change of mind for God, but in our terms it would appear to be so... my brain aches just thinking about it!

Anyway I have considered my own prayer life this week and would encourage everyone to do likewise. It's not a shopping list is it? It's a chance to kneel at the throne of Grace and have a conversation with the Lord God Almighty, the Creator, your Saviour and the best friend you will ever have.