How Prayer Works

How does prayer work?  Is it a matter of praying hard enough or often enough?  Perhaps if we can get enough people to all pray for the same thing, then we will get the outcome we seek.  Maybe praying the right words is the trick?  Jesus said that whatever we ask for in his name he would do for us.  So maybe that’s the key.  How does prayer work?  Another possibility is adding relics and rituals.  Hang onto a cross while you pray.  Get down on your knees.  Anoint a person with a special oil.  Lay on hands.  If we intercede in the right manner, our prayers will be answered.

How does prayer work?  Others will say that it is all just psychology and metaphysics.  We are harnessing the energy of the universe and redirecting it toward a person or situation.  There’s no divine intervention.  It is just people putting their minds toward something.  So when a prayer gets “answered,” it’s more like a self-fulfilling prophecy.  How does prayer work?  I don’t know how prayer works.  I only know that when I share my needs, desires, and requests with God, something always happens.  When I place a person or situation in God’s hands, I receive his peace and he handles it.  I don’t know how prayer works.  But I know it does.