%PDF-1.7 1 0 obj << /Type /Catalog /Outlines 2 0 R /Pages 3 0 R >> endobj 2 0 obj << /Type /Outlines /Count 0 >> endobj 3 0 obj << /Type /Pages /Kids [6 0 R 20 0 R ] /Count 2 /Resources << /ProcSet 4 0 R /Font << /F1 8 0 R /F2 9 0 R /F3 10 0 R /F4 11 0 R /F5 12 0 R /F6 14 0 R /F7 22 0 R >> /ExtGState << /GS1 15 0 R /GS2 16 0 R /GS3 17 0 R /GS4 18 0 R >> >> /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] >> endobj 4 0 obj [/PDF /Text ] endobj 5 0 obj << /Producer (dompdf 3.1.0 + CPDF) /CreationDate (D:20250908214200+00'00') /ModDate (D:20250908214200+00'00') >> endobj 6 0 obj << /Type /Page /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] /Parent 3 0 R /Contents 7 0 R >> endobj 7 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 1563 >> stream xWnF}WLZ@y#ͭ4 Aч9Y-.eEh_=.N@a -Ù9g.; 0 ד(܏|6 lNw%]L)!ݭ~{ =5b$=jŚۂ~^Ӌ A3$Qd PM[y<5>Gv6NכW(ލQ3 kCw(ig$Id`Xoa0G P9vS;GOV_\ }Kof͔~zjY,s.~ m_4Ҫ!$a6\NsfAEBʽWSW'P,*nGdT} bhHr`Fmn״S֊ZEUvZ\ %QsCZ)M͞v+UzS#|z~07+@bWtm,ZB'G]ņM_S!P% W:ek2D>*knY {(E3uϟ%aU֦P[-~l$}\B۫9{;V^E*I'DJǁdJx iBgK{Ba!mJm|ɗ`r}Mןd`?hv"n_#L,!Ct@7dAI7ua BTnǫSS R@q_G7GȍX5D=z Z tഄrBwA$!3BnK[I^-Rg 7K}(*6#YY4tZ-%7uҾy͔}vXm.uTf}CiH!*Q͠S` uBVl+2D{WH(rº}X/|BX#*ZVNa Ǡfl0Bv` ;>mہ?.qrY|M/XQ.'\cQ]{E'7lgnSQ:ǴU1 bD1&f 1V#RH˶ڸğDS!n ]wV0[ s p懌4M]cbFC'EM5nmcg:.U] OM`a0gj:yek( GC"fYN%Lh7c-lɓف̓zgdb$"AkAۊY' Z;Z`ԮsJ:<3Plt.=wVf endstream endobj 8 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F1 /BaseFont /Helvetica /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 9 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F2 /BaseFont /Times-Bold /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 10 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F3 /BaseFont /Times-Roman /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 11 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F4 /BaseFont /Helvetica-Bold /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 12 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F5 /BaseFont /Helvetica-Oblique /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 13 0 obj [6 0 R /Fit] endobj 14 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F6 /BaseFont /Times-Roman /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 15 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /CA 1 >> endobj 16 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /ca 1 >> endobj 17 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /CA 0.3 >> endobj 18 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /ca 0.3 >> endobj 19 0 obj [6 0 R /Fit] endobj 20 0 obj << /Type /Page /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] /Parent 3 0 R /Contents 21 0 R >> endobj 21 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 1481 >> stream xmW]o6}ϯ}$} b<,Ê(aDI\%Q%x޿X`wR|lY矶x,?V\5J)$sUD|I:;53iGR=R7*i{f4XyPVϊ ٶ9V3z4趶Qo<ɞ߃^<~'~w-יX"D[C]hp[5=|Rc(1yOsɃ__ؐᤷS'3w2xZЈS[mg"z>?o"a9ʗ lpZ/NV m *:~ʎoE ^|@ Sr~s}N3Lx.>Wc endstream endobj 22 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F7 /BaseFont /Helvetica-BoldOblique /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj xref 0 23 0000000000 65535 f 0000000009 00000 n 0000000074 00000 n 0000000120 00000 n 0000000412 00000 n 0000000441 00000 n 0000000590 00000 n 0000000693 00000 n 0000002329 00000 n 0000002436 00000 n 0000002544 00000 n 0000002654 00000 n 0000002767 00000 n 0000002883 00000 n 0000002912 00000 n 0000003022 00000 n 0000003079 00000 n 0000003136 00000 n 0000003195 00000 n 0000003254 00000 n 0000003283 00000 n 0000003388 00000 n 0000004943 00000 n trailer << /Size 23 /Root 1 0 R /Info 5 0 R /ID[<00d6e7cd9f88158c81179597777997ca><00d6e7cd9f88158c81179597777997ca>] >> startxref 5063 %%EOF Prayer—does it make any difference? | Caring Magazine
Read Caring Magazine Volume 29

Vol. #29

Hope in Action

Read Issue

Latest Impact StoriesView All

Popular Topics

PopularView All

Prayer—does it make any difference?

November 30, 2006
3 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
Listen to this article

prayer power

by Mervyn Morelock, Lt. Colonel – 

Recently, an e-mail from a friend asked, “Does prayer really make any difference? Why is it that when I pray, sometimes it feels that I am only mouthing words that go no higher than the ceiling? Why is it that when I pray for my loved ones, God doesn’t seem to answer? Is God listening?”

These questions and many others have been posed for generations. We are puzzled and discouraged when, after many people have prayed for someone, they still die.

Over the years, my library has expanded with books that attempt to answer these and other questions about prayer. Rosalind Rinker’s books on conversational prayer, Salvation Army publications, books of prayer, magazines like Pray! And now, a new book written by Philip Yancey includes intriguing chapters that seek to answer many of these problems. It’s called, “PRAYER, Does it make any difference?”

The book deals with questions we all have asked ourselves: “If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer? Is God listening? Why should God care about me? Why do so many prayers go unanswered? Why does God let the world go on as it does and doesn’t intervene? Does prayer really help with physical healing?”

Prayer is one of the mysteries of life for most of us.

Recent headlines tell of a disgraced religious leader. If we really are honest with ourselves, we ask, “How could this happen to one who lived so close to God and whose listeners hung on his every word? What was his prayer life like? Was it as bad as my own? How could he have fallen? Could it happen to me?”

For answers to these and other troubling questions we need first to examine what the Scriptures have to say about prayer. In Matthew 6:5-15, Jesus gave specific instructions on how to pray, and other portions of Scripture show us how he prayed.

Yancey’s book is a helpful guide to learn about prayer. He calls himself, “a pilgrim, not an expert.”

He writes, “The psychiatrist Gerald C. May observed, ‘After twenty years of listening to the yearnings of people’s hearts, I am convinced that human beings have an inborn desire for God. Whether we are consciously religious or not, this desire is our deepest longing and most precious treasure.’ Surely, if we are made in God’s own image, God will find a way to fulfill that deepest longing. Prayer is that way.”

“When it comes to prayer, we are all beginners.”

Yancey says, “In the process of writing, I have come to see prayer as a privilege, not a duty. Like all good things, prayer requires some discipline. Yet I believe that life with God should seem more like a friendship than duty. Prayer includes moments of ecstasy and also dullness, mindless distraction and acute concentration, flashes of joy and bouts of irritation. In other words, prayer has features in common with all relationships that matter.”

If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around two themes:

Why doesn’t God act the way we want God to?

And why don’t I act the way God wants me to?

Prayer is the precise point where those themes converge.

I believe in prayer. It does make a difference, even if only in me. I’ve seen many answers to prayer: freeing a girl from demon possession, acts of physical healing, restoring broken relationships, etc. But I’ve also had those times when God has chosen not to answer my prayers. So what do I do? Stop praying? No, because God directs us to pray without giving up. And it is not unusual to have the experience that when he says “no,” or “wait,” that he has something better in mind than my poor prayers could have ever imagined!

I want my prayer life, as Yancey says, “To seem more like a friendship than a duty.”

“Prayer—does it make any difference?” My answer: “Yes!” And often the difference is in me!

Download this page as a PDF

You May Also Like