Thinking about prayer

This week I had the opportunity to ask a good friend to pray for me about something that I was really struggling with. 'Struggling' is really an understatement. 'Tormented' seems more apt. It was a great relief to talk to her and know she would remember to pray for me. I didn't go into too much detail, but my friend is wise and her life experiences have been similar to me and she seemed to understand.

Since that conversation, the torment has actually eased significantly. Also the situation that was tormenting me has also eased.

No doubt the easing of my struggle was,  to a significant extent, due to the act of sharing my trouble with an empathetic friend, and knowing that she enlisting supernatural help on my behalf. This effort on her part is not a small thing, and contributes to my sense of being listened to and actively cared for, which change how I respond to the issue.

Reading passages such at Ephesians Ch 1 where Paul is recording his prayer for the Ephesian church, or Colossians Ch 1 as another example, Paul didn't have to tell these people that he was praying for them to ensure the power of God would impact them in awesome ways. But, and God has designed it this way, part of the way God will answer this prayer is through Paul's words to them.

a) This beloved apostle has been impacted by their love for him to the extent that he will pray for them. That would be hugely encouraging.
b) The details of his prayer which record his empathy for them, his joy in their faith and his desires for them in the future would spur them on to greater Godliness, and greater courage under persecution.
c) He is also teaching them how to pray for others who they wish to see grow spiritually (and by the grace of God, he is also teaching us)

At the start of all Paul's letters, he wishes the reader/hearer grace and peace. He then goes on to pass on grace and peace to them from God through his words.

Its so important that we in the church talk to each other about prayer. "How can I pray for you?" seems much more essential than "how did your soccer team go?" (although there is a place for such a discussion with people less familiar to us).

God answered my friends prayer for me before she even prayed it, in part, by giving me someone to share with. Then she put it before Him and he continued to work in a situation which he was already working in.

A few years ago I read Philip Yancey's book Prayer. I was greatly impacted by his thoughts on the topic and I would recommend it to anyone. Its clear that prayer is about our expression of our dependence on God as the sovereign Lord. Its true that, amazingly, God listens to us and works in accordance with our requests, but the most important thing is that we pray, not what the answers look like. Prayer is always good for us.