Prayer makes all the difference,” I once read on a wall plaque. A wonderful slogan, but realistic? What change does my prayer in actual fact bring about? We say God hears our prayers, but how can you tell? Does it really make any difference whether or not I pray? Are you actually cured from sickness because you prayed for it, or is it the medication which does it? Besides, the medication works regardless, also if you don’t pray for it!

What does prayer do for you? If you skip it once, you won’t feel any different! Sometimes it feels as though your words reach no further than the ceiling of your bedroom, or they turn back like a boomerang.  What’s the good of prayer?

Taking our starting point in what God says⤒🔗

I would like to make some comments regarding these questions. Firstly, our point of departure should not be our feelings, because then we will not observe much difference before and after prayer. For instance, you might pray for the Holy Spirit in your heart. That is one prayer of which you may be assured from the Scriptures that God will most certainly answer it (Luke 11:13). Yet it is quite possible that according to your feelings nothing has changed in the wake of your prayer. Has God then not answered your prayer? So, did God then promise that when you pray for the Holy Spirit, you‘ll get this extraordinary feeling within? You may firmly believe that the Holy Spirit is present in your heart, because God has said so. And then there will most certainly also be the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, and so on. But it all has its starting point in believing that God does what he says. He does not fool you. So the problem is not God’s, but ours. We still trust so little.

He who prays is changed←⤒🔗

What change does prayer bring about? I would prefer to ask, first of all: Who is changed by prayer? We are often busy with prayer, without regard for the one who prays. The most important thing is that one does pray. The person who prays looks at life differently, because he has communion with heaven. He brings his entire life in connection with the Lord God, placing it in God’s hand.  And in actual fact, with that, the most important thing has already been taken care of. I think of David in 2 Samuel 12. After a period of spiritual starvation on account of his sins, David begins to pray again. He prays for the Lord to preserve the life of his and Bathsheba’s ailing little boy, born from adultery. And then we read: “David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. “  He does not just pray repeatedly: “Lord please let the boy live”; no, David seeks God. And then, when the boy in the end does die and David’s prayer is not answered (!), even then David has not lost all—for, in praying, he had found God again, the God from whom he had become separated for over a year. In his praying, it becomes evident that David has changed. All is well again between God and him, and thus he now looks at life differently. He believes and is comforted.

So this is the most important thing: that the one who prays is being changed, for he who prays is at home in God’s presence. What more could you wish for?

Many answered prayers←⤒🔗

Of course, that is not the end of the matter. You may be assured that your prayer most definitely has effect. In God’s good pleasure, he has decided to utilize our prayers in the execution of his plans. James writes about that: “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” and by way of example he points to Elijah (James 5:16-18). Elijah was just like us. He was not some sort of super-believer. Yet, upon his prayer, God first gave scorching drought, and then three years later, rain. Such were the awesome results of Elijah’s humble prayer. God imbued it with power. Note well, this is true for the prayer of the righteous, he who has a good relationship with God. There is another possibility, as James points out in his epistle: “You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3). But if you enjoy a good relationship with God, there will be many answered prayers.

We at times fail to have an eye for this. We see unanswered prayers as a problem, especially at a time when our God for once does not answer us. It troubles our life of faith. But then we overlook, first and foremost, that every day many of our prayers in actual fact are answered: we pray for health, strength for our work, protection, forgiveness, and so on. If we would make the effort to thank God for all we receive in answer to prayer, we would be much more conscious of how many prayers God does answer. Besides, we ought to discern carefully that nowhere in the Bible does God promise a blanket fulfillment of all our prayers. He does not grant us all our wishes. Besides, we do not always know what is good for us. What is good for us? God’s mercy, his forgiveness, the holy Spirit! God certainly grants us these gifts upon prayer. We need not doubt that. What I am getting at is that many more prayers are answered than we tend to think.  But since we are spoiled, we rarely stop to think about it any more. 

God answers in his way←⤒🔗

I would just like to dwell a little longer on the fact that we ourselves often do not know what is good for us. When sick, we pray that we might get better, but does that make us better? What effect does healing have in the longer term? We do not know, but God does! It is just as well, then, that God does not always give us what we ask for.  However, he does always give us what the Holy Spirit within us asks for.  I’m thinking here of Romans 8:26. We read there that we do not know what we ought to pray for, but that the Spirit himself intercedes for us. He prays on the wavelength of God! So God hears not only our prayers, but also the pleading of the Spirit in our hearts, and that same Spirit does know what is good for us—what we need. Then Romans 8 continues (and the connection here is vital!): “…and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” And so, God guides our lives in tune with the prayer of the Spirit in our heart. Isn’t that just awesome?! Whenever we offer a wavering prayer, not knowing what is really needful, all will turn out well, thanks to the communion between the Father above and the Spirit within us. That is also why I gave this section the sub-title “God answers in his way,” which is in such a way that all things in our lives work together for our good, to ensure that we reach the finish. If that is not an answer to prayer, then what is?

Not all prayers are answered←⤒🔗

Let us now address the fact that indeed not all prayers are answered. About that too, the Bible speaks clearly. Earlier I cited the example of David. I could also point to Paul, who prayed three times for God to deliver him from that thorn in the flesh. But God did not… and that poses a problem for us; it has us worried. Why does God do that? But then we come at it from the wrong angle, for especially the fact that at times God decides not to answer our prayer points out how seriously God deals with our prayers. Every petition is weighed up in heaven above. We so often think in terms of yes or no, but God walks with us, and on the path of life, he determines step by step what is good for us. Thus also when God sometimes says ”No,” it is in order not to lose you, for nothing may separate you from the love of God.

On other occasions, God may not answer a prayer for a long period of time. That may be so for at least two reasons. God may be angry. There may therefore be cause to carefully evaluate your life: What has gone awry between God and myself? It is also possible that God is testing you (Luke 18:1-8). Will you persevere despite the fact that God keeps you in abeyance? Thus we see that not every prayer is answered (immediately) and just as well! For then prayer would no longer be prayer, but more like placing an order.

Praying is sharing your entire life with your Father, trusting that he will make a path for you to travel on. That is what you firmly believe, and whoever believes that will experience it as well.