Most people pray sometimes. Some people pray a lot. But does it really make a difference?

People often say that they feel calmer after prayer. Some experience sensations of peace and love during prayer that they cannot explain. Prayer may change the mindset of the person praying but does it actually make a difference in the world?

It is incredibly hard to understand how spoken or unspoken words towards God can have any impact at all. If we believe that God already knows everything and always does the right thing why should we even need to ask him for anything? 

The Bible reveals God as the one who made the world and who wants to work with and partner with humans in seeing the world transformed.

As we look around we see multiple needs locally, nationally and internationally. Our hearts hurt when we see people in pain and we want something to change so we cry out in prayer. Our prayers are the way we can partner with God. He actively encourages us to pray. He loves it!

In our local community, after prayer, we have seen people recover more quickly from illnesses sometimes to the astonishment of the medical teams. We have seen people cope with things they didn’t think they would be able to cope with.  Houses have sold quicker than expected, jobs have been found, relationships healed and restored. Some may dismiss this as coincidence, but, like the former Archbishop William Temple, the more we pray the more coincidences we seem to notice.

It is also true that we have seen many situations not change as we would wish them to have changed. We have experienced disappointments and some disillusionment. But we keep praying.

The teaching in the New Testament about prayer predominantly focuses on keeping going. We may feel confused at times. We may wonder what difference it really makes, but when we consistently pray about things that touch our hearts, we do regularly see situations change. And because of that, we keep praying.

Will you join the millions across the world in praying to see the local community and local lives be transformed?

Rev Richard Heard, Vicar of St Francis Church