"We were designed to be in a relationship with God." Joshana Baidya

Prayer is not something you have to do. Prayer is something that you get to do. It simply means communicating with God. All we have to do is to ask God for his help. No matter, we are in good or bad in a situation, we pray believing that he is our loving father. Because he is available. Talking about prayer-life often makes us feel embarrassed. Some of us don't know how to pray or don't pray enough or only pray at the last minute when there comes some kind of emergency. Maybe we don't understand prayer or we weren't taught how to pray. Here in Jeremiah 29:12, God invites us to pray by promising ..."call upon me and come and pray to me, and I'll hear you".

Prayer is the way we remain in the relationship with God and to maintain it, communication is the key. Prayer includes both speaking to God and hearing from God. This conversation can be done anywhere and in any ways. Just by shouting, singing, alone, or in a group or in a receptive silence. We were created by God, in the image of God and we were designed to be in a relationship with God. Therefore, the primary purpose of prayer is nurturing and growing our relationship with our almighty father.

The prayer must be the Trinitarian i.e. presence of the father, son and the Holy Spirit. Prayer needs to be respectful rather than formal. As in Mark 14: 36 Jesus prays "Abba, father, all things are possible for you....”. We also need to remember that prayer is not telling God something he doesn't already know. We can't surprise God.

Prayer is powerful. In James 5:16 declares "the prayer of righteous men is powerful and effective". Elijah was a man as a good instance. Prayer is our weapons. Matthew 17:20 and Corinthians 10: 4-5 tell us "the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world". The power of prayer is not the result of the person praying. Rather the power resides in the God who is being prayed to.

Writer

Joshana Baidya, Bhaktapur CBS

Completed Intermediate (+12) in Science, Biology