When We Pray

I think prayer is one of the easiest things to speak or read about but one of the most difficult things to do faithfully and consistently. Do you find prayer difficult? Then if you do, you are in the company of Christians in every age who struggled with prayer and also who struggled in prayer.

Prayer is actually a really precious gift which God has given to us. It is our opportunity to speak to God so I would encourage you to do this regularly. To help us to remember what prayer is here, is an easy way of remembering that.

P is for praise. In prayer we are coming to speak to God, the Almighty who is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and who is gloriously holy and wonderfully gracious. This is the God to whom we pray.

R is for repentance. When we come to pray we have to recognise how unlike God we really are — he is holy, we have sinned. So we need to repent of our sins and turn away from them.

A is for ask. There are 3 main things we can ask God for (but you will think of many more). As for pardon for your sin and help to overcome it. As for God's blessing and help on all the people you love and care for, especially those who are ill or sad. Ask for friends not yet Christians to be converted

Y is for yield. A W Tozer says: "To pray effectively we must want what God wants — that and that only is to pray in the will of God." We yield to the will of God so that his will, not ours, will be done.