PRAYER! Do you ever give it a thought? 

I remember as a young curate visiting an elderly gentleman in Harold Wood Hospital, Essex.  We had a good talk together, some of which was centred on his experiences in the First World War. At the end of my visit, I asked if he would mind if I said a prayer with him for God’s blessing. He agreed and I prayed. As I shook hands with him and said goodbye to him, he turned to me and said: “Thank you, Padre. You know the last time I prayed was on the Vimy Ridge.”

That was one of the battles in the 1914-18 war and there I was praying with him in 1960, over 40 years later. How sad it was that during those intervening years apparently he had never prayed.

I think that is probably true of many people today. They only pray in a crisis. Is that true for you? You only pray when you are faced with a difficult problem, a sad situation or a bewildering crisis.  But prayer is a lot more than that.  Prayer is available to us at any time – day or night – because God is available to us like that.  Prayer is speaking to God, praising God, listening to God, seeking God’s forgiveness and help.  It is an essential ingredient in our friendship with God.  Just as conversation is vital  to any healthy relationship, so that is true of our relationship with God.

There is a sense in which prayer is easy. We just talk naturally to God wherever we are, and that doesn’t mean that we have to be in a church building in order to pray. On the other hand prayer is not easy. It can leave us full of questions, not least why doesn’t God answer many of my prayers? That is a fair question. One of the answers I give is simply that God normally has three answers: Yes, No, and Wait.

There are two quotes about prayer that I am encouraged by. The first one is;

“When we work, we work.

“When we pray, God works!”

The second:

“Seven prayer-less days

“Make one weak!”

Don’t give prayer a thought – give it a go.