4.3 Does Prayer Change Anything?

When it comes to technology and faith there are many benefits. Some parts really help me with my prayer life. For example, I use the Bible app on my phone to read and think about a piece of scripture most days. I also love the worship music that's on my phone, being able to express my gratefulness and thankfulness to God while cruising along to work can really set me up for my day. Technology can also have its downsides, like you can type something as simple as what is prayer into the search bar, and in 0.4 of a second 20 million results are ready to go. It's funny how all the information comes up in one second yet it will take multiple lifetimes to explore. Google can let us down though when life gets tough and I've often experienced this when prayers go unanswered. Many of us will have our own stories of unanswered prayers, and we can be left with the question of why, and unfortunately, Google isn't very good at answering why God didn't change your situation or why he didn't give you what you needed the most. The Internet doesn't understand your situation, and it can be hard to wait or to hear the word no, but learning to trust someone who loves you so much that they be willing to die for you, and wants to give you good things will change the way that you experience prayer. The one thing that you need to keep in mind when praying especially when expressing your needs is that God loves other people as much as he loves you. The apostle Paul was keen to encourage the early believers to have this bigger picture and he said that 'In all things God works for the good of those who love him'. I've often struggled when God hasn't answered my prayers, but I've also learned a lot in this because sometimes God would give me something totally different from what I'd asked for but then soon after I'd realized that that was the thing that I needed the most, and it's been in these real-life experiences of asking God and God giving in his way that I've begun to realize that God does, in fact, know us way better than we know ourselves. I hope you've been encouraged in this episode as we've looked at what prayer is and also the different ways that we can connect with God. As a good place to start, we're going to help bring deeper meaning to one of the oldest teachings that Jesus taught on how to pray. This prayer is a prayer that you may have prayed over a thousand times, the 'our father' or also known as 'the Lord's prayer'. It starts with 'our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.' This helps us to simply acknowledge who God is! God is far above everything else on earth, yet he is as close to us as a parent. Jesus then goes on to say, 'your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' We are praying for God's ways here on this earth. We're admitting that his ways are to be trusted even if it's hard to understand it. Next, we pray for what we need, Jesus encourages us to pray for our 'daily bread'. Now, you might say but I'm gluten-free but the point isn't about the bread, it's about our daily needs clothes, food, warmth, maybe help for an upcoming test, or simply guidance for the future. Whatever it is Jesus tells us to lay out our needs to our Father who cares about even the smallest detail of our lives. Jesus then turns to forgiveness, 'forgive us our trespasses', and when we do this we're admitting that we don't have it all together and we need God's forgiveness. Jesus also encourages us to pray for the strength to forgive others. We've all been hurt all been wronged at some point in our lives, we need to pray for the strength to offer the same forgiveness that God has given to us. Finally, Jesus prays to lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. This is a simple prayer that God would help us to stay on the right path that we would say no to what holds us back and yes to what gives life. This is Jesus' template to help you start praying. No tricks, no fancy words, just our real selves coming before our real God with our real lives. So give it a go!