It seems like every day the news is reporting on some upsetting event, calamity or tragedy.  How should we as believers respond?  Our first response needs to be prayer!  Prayer is our privilege as believers to talk to God about world events, our families and ourselves.  It is important for us to use our privilege to pray because prayer changes things!

Prayer doesn’t have to be formal or elaborate.  In fact, you can talk to God the same way that you talk to a friend.  He understands your conversation and your emotions as you express your heart to Him.  Some people wonder why they should pray when God already knows everything.  The reason we pray is to invite God’s participation.  Yes God knows everything, but He wants us to depend on Him and ask for His help.

Prayer is simply a conversation with God. In any conversation, you both have something to say. So after you have said all you want to say to God, sit quietly in His presence to see if you can sense what He is saying to you in response. God speaks to us in many ways – through a still, small voice that we hear in our hearts, through His Word and sometimes through an audible voice (although this is rare).

We have so much that we need to pray for! Not only do we need to pray for our nation, but we need to pray for our families, our friends, our schools, our relationships, our children and our communities.  In short, we need to pray about everything! I Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”

When Jesus was on the earth, He performed miracles and healed many people. One of the critical foundations to Jesus’ powerful ministry was His commitment to prayer! His disciples noticed it and asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. That “Model Prayer” is still a good example to us on how to pray.

Luke 11:1 says, “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.’”