Rector’s Daily Reflections
Friday 8th March 2024
Learning More About Prayer
Over the last couple of weeks I have been sharing some reflections on how we might grow in our life of prayer. Prayer is the work of a lifetime, and there is always the opportunity to learn more. And because prayer is about our relationship with God, and an expression of our individual personality, we should expect our prayers to develop as we grow older and experience more of the joys and sorrows of life.
But why should we pray in the first place? We know that prayer is something we ought to do - but does it actually do any good? I shall share some thoughts on this in today’s reflections, which are the last in the current series.
There is an extent to reach we pray because it is an act of worship to God. God is our Creator and Redeemer. We owe everything to God, and so it is only right to honour Him, to show Him respect and to demonstrate our gratitude. Prayer gives God the honour which is His due.
But prayer is more than an act of worship. Prayer has the potential to change things, and to change them for the better. People have different views as to whether prayer has the power to make God do something He would not otherwise have done. Some argue that this simply is n’t how God works, because if it were, it would turn God into some sort of Heavenly slot-machine : we insert the right shaped prayer into the machine, and out comes the result we want! But on the other hand, it is quite possible to argue that our prayers change our relationship with God: they make us more able to receive God’s love. Prayer gives God’s love more scope to work, and it is God’s love which has the power to transform our world for the better.
Perhaps most importantly, prayer changes us. It is one way in which God works in us , to help us to grow in holiness and to become more Christlike. The New Testament shows us that Jesus was a man of prayer. Would n’t it be wonderful if you and I were known as men and women of prayer? As in so many matters, Jesus sets the standard, and we try our best to follow his example. Of course, we will never become perfect in the art of prayer. We will make mistakes along the way. But at least we will be making the effort. And I think in prayer, as in so much else in life, making the effort is what counts.