I am a pragmatist when it comes to the topic of prayer. As I have sought to get a better handle on the workings of prayer, I have wrestled with its very ideas and theories for many years . I have listened and read widely as others theorize, spiritualize, rationalize, and all the “izes”, seeking to explain how prayer works or why it doesn’t work. I have listened as people have betrayed their own uncertainties as to why prayer doesn’t work for them (eg. “must not be God’s will”). I have seen people struggle to really believe that this discipline we call prayer may actually have practical outcomes, especially for the one praying. I have watched as people go through the motions of praying because it’s the right thing to do but the mind is distant and the heart cool towards the whole concept.

For many (and I have been included in that many), there has been a disconnect between what we read in the Bible and what life is really like for us. We read the certainties of answered prayer in the teachings of the Scriptures and yet find ourselves living in uncertainty. We read biographies of people we admire, who testified of answers to prayer, and yet never find ourselves living out similar stories. We read of Jesus’ very words about the certainty of answered prayer, especially in the Gospel of John, and find ourselves strangers in experience to these very texts. We want to believe and for many of us, we don’t want to be accused of being hypocrites, professing something that we aren’t really sure happens but there is still that nagging doubt.

So the question I ask myself and others is this: “Is it possible to pray, as the Bible teaches, and receive practical answers that can be observed, measured and even repeated? Is is possible to know that God has specifically answered the prayer that I ask, without my resorting to generalities or mindless faith statements (eg. of course He did)? How can I know that it wasn’t circumstance that it worked out the way I wanted it to?

The premise I adhere to is more than mere questionings. I have lived too long to discount or discard this whole subject of prayer. I have known very specific answers to requests made.

So then, why do people find it so hard to believe that God both hears and answers the requests made? If the Bible speaks with certainties, why must the one praying cloak prayer with doubts or uncertainties?

I would invite you to journey with me as we explore this topic. Keep in mind that this is more than a mere academic or “blind faith” discussion.

Blessings!