Critics of Christianity are very skeptical about the efficacy of prayer believing that there is no God to pray to and that anybody who practices prayer is like a child who has an imaginary friend, a friend who can be whoever you want him to be. Praying to God is no different to leaving a list of presents for Santa Claus, a carrot for Rudolph or putting a tooth under your pillow for the tooth fairy. Praying they say is a form of dependence that is for people who cannot cope with life as it is and that we should just accept the harsh facts of death injustice and imperfection and just try to do the best we can. That God even if he existed would not be interested in the individual affairs of humans because the universe is vast and we are mere specks of insignificance in the grand scheme of things and thinking he is concerned about us is a kind of wish fulfillment. It does nothing to save people who are victims of natural disasters like earth quakes and tsunamis and that people still die from cancer despite being prayed for. There is particular criticism for intercessory prayer pointing out that the vast majority of things that humans pray for do not come to pass and some have performed scientific experiments in an effort to prove this as actual fact.
For Christians this rather misunderstands the nature of prayer because we do not believe that prayer can be tested by experiment or that it prevents all natural disasters or that everything we ask for in prayer we receive but rather God has made us to enjoy him and wants to meet us through all the joys and trials of life. We might ask that our football team beat our local rivals 5-0 but this is really a rather selfish prayer because their supporters will no doubt be praying for the same in reverse or we might pray only when we are in some kind of trouble or in a difficult situation. The lords prayer in contrast tells us that we are to pray according to his will not our own. We often cry out to God only in desperation or selfishness. It has often been said that there are no atheists on the battlefield or in a sinking ship and most people will admit to praying at some point in their lives however fleetingly.
There is nothing wrong with reaching out because many things that happen in life are beyond our control so it’s natural to plead to somebody or something who you think could help but the real benefit to our spirit comes with a regular prayer life. For Christians prayer always works because in forms and transforms us. It has many psychological benefits even before considering its positive spiritual effect. In prayer we believe that there is a God who loves us and is interested in our well being, that he is the ultimate maximal being who is responsible for all good things, that his nature is beyond anything we could achieve ourselves. This has the effect of curbing our ego and evoking feelings of humility, helping us with pride which can cause harm to ourselves and others but also give us a sense of confidence, security and worth, that we are individually important and loved. This is important in a world where many are lonely, have low self esteem and feel insecure
We pray in thanksgiving for all the good things in life from basic blessings such as Food, Water, Shelter, Warmth, the beauty of nature, our supportive relationships, enough money to live on and the good things in life we enjoy. This enhances our feelings of a great God worthy of worship, helps to give perspective and feelings of gratitude and also provides an optimistic backdrop to life.
In prayer we take our troubles and burdens to God. We live in a life where people often experience guilt, have anxieties around relationships, money, work or struggles against sin. Prayer allows us to offload those burdens in the way we might with a friend but when we have faith we know that we can be truly forgiven for our wrongdoing, that we will not be judged, that Gods nature is one of forgiveness for those who are sorry. This can liberate a person from despair and deep feelings of guilt, low self-esteem and denial because not all people can rationalize their own wrong doing with just a shrug of their shoulders. For Christians sin damages our spirit and relationship with God but repentance in prayer enhances it.
There are also situations where we need to forgive others when they have wronged us, many harbour feelings of bitterness and resentment being unable to find peace. Asking in faith for the power to forgive others can truly liberate us and dissipate deep feelings of bitterness and anger.
Another area of prayer is asking God to intervene in the sufferings and troubles of others both for those we know and those in situations we read about in the media. In praying for those people we are looking outward to others rather than focusing solely on our own concerns, this encourages in us feelings of empathy which are sustained beyond a brief feeling of horror that we may experience when we read a newspaper headline or watch a news item. By praying we are aligning ourselves with God in the desire to heal, repair and relieve suffering in an act of confident hope.
In our daily endeavours we are asking God to help us in spirit to shape us into being better human beings and to address our human failings. It is a quest to be more like Jesus because when we change for the better situations around us can also change for better. Prayer can be a great help in dealing with harmful faults but also attaining loving attributes. For Christians prayer is key to personal transformation by drawing on God’s love and grace.
Many in our culture feel an emptiness inside, a sense of being unfulfilled. Those things that we hope will satisfy like work, hobbies, money, possessions, relationships and our various interests can satisfy in part but do not always fulfill, leading many to seek a different kind of life, a spiritual life. One of the biggest barriers to prayer is a belief that we do not need a higher being and that we should be independent, that we do not need to submit to somebody or something else, but inevitably things will happen which are beyond our control, something which even the toughest and strongest person will encounter to which there is often an instinct to reach out to something for a solution.
Prayer then is an act of humility where we get honest and real about ourselves and place our sense of self in submission to God. This is counter intuitive and difficult to do, but when we do the result is surprisingly liberating. We need not feel helplessness or futility over our daily efforts or in unforeseen events, nor nihilism or pessimism at the thought of death and injustice. A life free from problems is not realistic but prayer gives us resources which help us to deal with setbacks and anxieties, brings clarity and enhances spiritual life today and into the future. The positive effects of a prayer life are not like ideas you find in a self-improvement manual in the "Mind body spirit" section in your local book shop nor a psychological discipline you can learn purely by your own effort, they are the results of asking for spiritual help, an honest recognition that we are truly limited within ourselves.
Our prayer life is a partnership, a relationship in which God and the power of the Holy Spirit are very real to us. We have faith in them because it is something we experience in our prayer time. We believe that prayers are answered though not always in the way that we would wish and that Gods interventions are more than just coincidences, the purpose of which can often be seen more clearly and make more sense in hindsight because he provides what we need rather than what we want. We see prayer as the means by which we can communicate with God. Faith is essential to an effective prayer life , when we believe earnestly that it can have a positive effect it often does and countless examples of dramatic healing's and improved quality of lives have been witnessed as a result. Prayer is the ultimate act of hope. In addition to the life changing benefits already outlined research has shown that people who pray regularly are happier healthier and less stressed than before.