What are the benefits of prayer? There are so many!! Some people these days spend thousands on counseling and mentoring in our country when God’s Greatest Counselor stands ready to take all our burdens upon himself.

Jesus often went to the Father in prayer: Luke 5 : 16 “ But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 6 : 12 “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” Even though Jesus was both God and man he spent a lot of time in prayer. He realized that a life without God’s direction and fellowship was meaningless.

Does this mean that we have to be on our knees and use a lot of “Thee’s” and “Thou’s”? NO! We can talk to God in any way we need to at that moment. We can talk to God just like he’s one of us. Even though God is sovereign, in His love for us we can be free to approach His throne without blemish. We are to go boldly before Him in reverence and respect but not afraid of His reaction to us. He loves us and understands the turmoil we live in everyday. What if we’re angry? Well, we have an example of when Jesus himself was angry. Mark 11 : 15, “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.” God understands anger. We can take our anger to Him and receive peace and perspective if we talk over our angry feeling with God before we react.

Does God answer us when we pray? YES!!! Only sometimes it’s not what we want to hear. And sometimes it’s an answer with silence. Someone told me a long time ago to ask, look around and listen. This means that we are to pray, ask for whatever we want, then stop and look around. We look for what He will do in that particular situation. We must be diligent in looking for Him to move. Then, we are to listen for His voice in the voices of others. God speaks through people and circumstances. For example, there was a time when I was praying for God to give me another child. I just had the feeling that he wanted me to continue to petition him in prayer with faith that whatever I asked for He would do. Until the day my youngest became very ill. He was very sick with a very high fever. I heard an audible voice ask me, “ Will you sacrifice this one for another?” My answer was NO!! I was not willing to sacrifice the child I held in my arms for another. Then I heard the same voice say, “Trust in me. For I am with you even until the end of time.” By the time we got to the doctor, my sons fever had subsided and he was feeling much better.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. I learned that there is a time for everything. Everything under the sun. Did I quit praying for another child? No. In fact, I’ve continued to pray but now I pray for His will not mine. I know that the desire for another child has not left my heart, but I see more clearly that His plan for me is right and true. Prayer can be as enlightening as we let it be. When we grow up in our relationship to the Lord we create a bond of comfort and rest that we have never known before.