Faith

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Prayer Really Does Change Things
Ask any religious person, whatever faith, if prayer really is effective, and most would say it is. A doctor or health professional might say that prayer is an effectual agent of mental or emotional health. Research has suggested that prayer is useful to reduce anger, cope with stress, and handle difficult emotions.
But does prayer really work, especially in the sense that prayer is prayer, per se, that is an intersection to God?
And when we pray for others, can our prayers help them and make the world a better place?
Christians, and many other religious groups, would say yes, it does. Prayer is in itself, a way to talk to God, to communicate our desires and wishes – although God knows already (Matthew 6:8). God doesn’t change His mind, but He might not do something unless we pray for it.
When we ask God for peace, or intercede for the hungry, or pray for justice, it is as if we are standing with that person in their trouble. In the Bible it says that the prayer of a righteous man avails much. This verse is from the Bible in James 5:15, and it refers to the effective prayer of a certain great man of God. His prayer was effective, not because it changed the mind of God, but because he prayed according to God’s plan and God did it.
To Christians, effective prayers go along with the will of God, and if we want to know the will of God, we must pray to know it. So we have two reasons to pray: one, to know the will of God, and secondly, to pray according to the will of God. 
I would encourage every person to pray for others in the world. In order to pray, and I stated earlier, ask God what He really wants to do in the world. Read the Bible, and you will find that God hates injustice, but loves justice. He doesn’t like hatred, but he cares for the hated.
When you pray for God’s will to be done, you will find that God not only changes circumstances, but He will also change your heart.

Andrew Scribner - [email protected]

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