I know there are a lot of benefits to prayer. I don’t even know how to begin to write about it, since from the moment I was aware of the importance of prayer I started applying it to my life. From the beginning of my walk with God to the present time, prayer has benefited me countless times. Since the beginning of creation up to this day, people have witnessed the power of prayer in their lives. How do you even begin to write about the benefits of prayer when there are so many? Nevertheless, I’m going to try anyway, at least what prayer has done for me in my life.
Prayer has helped me time and time again get peace of mind when I’m facing life’s challenges and feeling overwhelmed. Prayer has also brought healing to my life and to the people I prayed for, both physical and spiritual. I used to suffer terrible asthma symptoms, to a point where I was always sick with a cold or some kind of upper respiratory ailment. No matter what the season was, especially during fall, I was miserable. A doctor once told me that by the time I am forty years old I would be an invalid and incapacitated in my bed. I refused to accept his diagnosis for me. Instead I chose to believe the Lord that He will not allow this to happen in my life. I used to take at least three medications daily for my asthma, sometimes four to six, depending on the time of year and the season. But now, thank the Lord, even the emergency inhaler I am told I cannot be without gets used very rarely – a couple of times a year at most! I have lived without all those daily steroid medications for years now, and I am way past forty. I’ve never felt so healthy and happy in my life. I walk an hour everyday and get up very early in the morning. And I still have the stuffed toys that the doctor had said would be the death of me.
I have seen many people get healed of their physical ailments through prayer. My niece for example was almost to the point of death, with both her lungs collapsing when she was only 2 years old because of pneumonia. With prayer and supplications to the Lord she was healed and is now a healthy 10 year old. Not only does prayer help with physical healing, but prayer has also gotten me out of moments of depression and times when I did not want to live anymore. In those darkest moments of my life, prayer was my lifeline and I heard God’s voice tell me, “It is well,” even when I didn’t feel well. The Lord helped me hope for a better future and a better tomorrow when all I wanted to do was die. The wretchedness and the pain I used to feel inside are all gone now and has been replaced by the wonderful love of God. Everyday in prayer I went to God and talked to Him and cried to Him. Whether I wanted to or not, I knew that I needed to pray, and that prayer was healing me and giving me life when I couldn’t face life. Thank God for His grace and mercy in my life. Today, everyday, I can feel His love emanate through my heart and soul. He gives me worth and a reason to live, nothing this life has ever given me. Prayer has time and time again given me reasons to hope and live.
Prayer has also worked out situations in my life that frustrated me. Whether it’s with people or with something I’m currently working on that I need help with (like trying to figure out a new software or a new machine that I just bought and I’m getting frustrated for lack of patience), prayer is my answer. I’d be trying to figure it out on my own, and finally out of exasperation I would call on the Lord to help me out and bam! It’s done. I don’t know how He does it but somehow He does. He either clears my mind to see what I’m doing wrong and I’m able to fix it, or He does something that all of a sudden it’s fixed. Like the other day something that I’ve been trying to do in my computer for weeks and not getting anywhere finally just started working. Always when I say out loud what I want to happen to the Lord somehow, someway, works it out for me. (This is not to say a silent prayer doesn’t work as powerfully as the voiced out ones. Both voiced out prayers and heart felt silent prayers are powerful.)
Also when the power in our house would go out I would ask the Lord to bring it back. Last week the power went out for a couple of hours and I prayed that the Lord would bring it back. I had been surfing the Internet (when I should have been communing with the Lord) and boom! Suddenly, no power. With nothing else to do, I started communing and praying to the Lord. Well, the power didn’t come back right away, but just when I was finally done in my communion with the Lord and I needed to get to the computer to start writing my blog post, the power came back on. Coincidence perhaps, but it was a prayer answered nonetheless!
Prayer has kept my family and me safe on the road. I never go inside my car without asking for God’s protection. One time on the way to work there was a multiple car accident that was about to happen just as we approached it. I saw one car rushing to the right side of me and careen right into the hillside of the highway and stopped facing the traffic. Another car to the left ended up in the grass in the median of the highway, and another one slightly to the right of us ended up in front of us. All that time I’m praying away because I didn’t want any of them to come near us. We zoomed past everyone before the traffic slowed and I kept thinking to myself, what just happened? I can’t even explain it. I don’t know how it started. Perhaps someone cut someone off or tried to avoid an accident, but all I know is that we were right in the middle of a collision course with several other cars and the Lord not only kept us from colliding with any of them, but they with us. As far as I was able to tell, no one hit anybody or anyone because the whole entire time I was praying out loud the name of Jesus. Cars were scattered everywhere but no one hit anybody. Like I said, I can’t even explain it.
Prayer has so many benefits. In the physical realm you can’t rationalize things out, that’s why it’s called prayer. You don’t pray because you can figure out how it’s going to work out, you pray because you believe God can work anything out even when it doesn’t make sense. Even science has gotten into the benefits of prayer. Some hospitals encourage patients who believe in prayer to pray, because according to studies prayer helps alleviates stress and promotes a healthier mental attitude. Studies also have shown that those who prayed went home earlier or were released sooner than those who didn’t. Even those who were prayed for and weren’t actually praying themselves, got better results than those who weren’t prayed for at all. There was also a study showing that those who pray have lesser symptoms of pain than those who did not pray. Another study showed alcoholics who pray drink less than those who don’t pray. It has helped people practice self-control. Prayer has been found to increase levels of dopamine, which is associated with states of wellbeing and joy.
When you pray, don’t worry about how it’s going to get answered or how God is going to get your problems fixed and taken care of for you. Just pray your prayers and leave the figuring out to the Lord. Believe He can do anything. Don’t try to figure it out. Ask God whatever you want and need in prayer, and then thank Him in advance for working it out for you. By thanking Him you are showing that you believe He can do anything, and that nothing is too hard for Him. Besides that, according to science, being thankful in our prayers helps reduce illnesses and increases the levels of dopamine in our bodies. Dopamine is the happy hormone we want. It helps us to be less depressed. They say people who say thankful prayers have a brighter attitude than those who don’t. So what are you waiting for?
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. {Philippians 4:6-7}
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I thank You for the power of prayer. I thank You Lord for giving us this power anytime, any day and any place we want to use it. I thank You because with You all things are possible to those that believe. There is nothing too hard with You. I thank You Lord Jesus, because You never fail and Your desire is for us to always come to You in prayer.
Lord, help me today to believe in You. Help me today to know and see Your love even more. Please Jesus, give me more faith in You to believe that nothing is too hard with You, and that You are always there waiting for me to talk to You. Also please give me more of Your Holy Spirit that I may belong to You more and more, and do Your will and Your desire more and more. Help me to come and talk to You every day Father. I pray this in Your most wonderful and powerful name, Jesus. Thank You Father. Amen.
