How Prayer Changes Lives

Christians have access to the most powerful resources available on Earth, one of them is prayer. We can use prayer to communicate with an all-powerful, all-knowing God who wants a personal relationship with us. God lovingly listens to our needs and wants to commune with us through prayer.

However, we sometimes become discouraged with our prayer lives or we come up with reasons or excuses as to why we’re not praying as we should. Life sometimes gets in the way or we decide that we can work situations out ourselves. We forget that although God is in control, we still need to pray.

Wearing faith-based clothing can help us communicate the importance of things like prayer and God’s love to others who do not yet have a relationship with God. They can be used to remind those who do have a relationship with Him to remain steadfast in prayer. Either way, prayer is a powerful way to connect others with God. This post helps you see just how prayer can change lives and how you can use prayer to touch anyone anywhere around the world at any time.

Building Your Relationship with God Through Prayer

When you’re in a relationship with someone, you build that relationship in various ways, including communication. However, you wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with an individual if that person only spoke to you when something was needed. You may not want to continue a one-sided relationship like that.

Thankfully, although we often treat God the same way, He doesn’t get discouraged with us. If you find yourself only going to God in prayer when you need something, your relationship with God may suffer. As we grow our relationship with the Lord, we build that relationship by communicating with Him through prayer, but if we only seek Him out when we need something, we may not be building as strong a relationship as we could be. Not only does our relationship suffer, but also our prayer lives suffer.

Your Christian-based clothing may communicate your relationship with God to others, but your prayer life builds your relationship directly with God. If you’re relationship with God seems to be suffering, examine your prayer life and see if you need to put more time an energy into prayer.

Ways in which you can build better communication with God through prayer include:

• Having a consistent time for prayer
• Keeping a prayer journal that lists requests as well as answers to prayer
• Maintaining a quiet time to commune in prayer
• Relying on the holy spirit for help
• Praying for short periods of time and continuing to add more time each week
• Watching and waiting for answers to prayer
• Looking for ways God is working in your life

Life-Changing Moments Due to Prayer

The Bible has recorded many moments where lives were changed through prayer. These examples can encourage us as Christians to continue in prayer as well as give us lessons on how to better communicate through prayer.

Examples of life-changing moments due to prayer include:

• Hannah (Samuel 1): Hannah was a godly woman who suffered because she was childless. In those days, not having children was seen as shameful, and Hannah continually prayed to God through her suffering, asking for a child, a child she would dedicate to God. When Hannah did conceive, she gave her son, Samuel back to God, and he became a priest, judge, prophet and a great leader.
• Moses (Exodus): Whenever the Israelites sinned against God, the Bible tells us that Moses turned to prayer. No matter how angry the Israelites made him and no matter how they sinned, Moses saw God as the only one to turn to. Each time the Israelites disappointed God, Moses fell on his face and prayed for them.
• Peter (Acts 12): Herod arrested Peter and put him in prison. Fearing for his life, the church prayed in earnest for his release. Peter walked out of jail, right past the jailers, and walked into the house and found the church was still praying for his release.
• Daniel (Daniel 2): The king, Nebuchadnezzar, was having a disturbing dream, and he wanted his astrologers to interpret the dream. The only problem was that he wouldn’t reveal any details of the dream to them. Daniel, however, knew that God could give Daniel the interpretation of the dream. So Daniel prayed and asked his friends to pray that God would give him the wisdom to interpret the dream, and God did. Daniel was able to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and he gave all the glory to God.
• Jonah (Jonah): Jonah ended up in the belly of a large fish after running away from God’s will. He had a few days to earnestly pray and consider what God wanted from him. Because of Jonah’s repentance, God caused the fish to vomit Jonah back out on the shore.
• Job (Job 42): Job was a just and very wealthy man who had honored God. The Devil accused Job of only loving God because of his great material wealth. So the Devil caused Job great sufferings, in order to make him renounce his faith in God. Scripture says that not only did Job retain his integrity during the entire ordeal he faced, but Job proceeded to pray for his friends who tried to influence him to forsake God. As a result of praying for the same people who were miserable comforters to him, God removed his sufferings and doubled all of what he had lost previously.

Just these few examples give us some important lesson on prayer:

• Give the glory to God (1 Samuel 1 and 2). Hannah prayed earnestly for a child, and when she had Samuel, she praised God for answering her prayer. When we pray, we should always praise God and thank Him for what He has done.
• Use prayer to repent (1 John 1:9). Prayer offers a way to repentance and restoration. The Bible promises that God will forgive us if we confess our sins, and Jonah’s story shows how God keeps that promise.
• Pray earnestly (James 5:16). The earnest prayers of righteous people are powerful and effective. A great example is when the church prayed for Peter’s release from prison. Be confident that God hears and considers your prayers and keep praying with fervency.
• Have confidence in God (Daniel). God promises to hear your prayers, and Daniel exhibited his absolute confidence in the power of God by telling Nebuchadnezzar that God would give Daniel the interpretation of the dream. Daniel knew that God was all-powerful and could do just what Daniel was asking. When we pray, we need to pray with the confidence that God can do what we’re asking. We shouldn’t be timid when talking to God.
• Pray for others (Exodus, Job). Moses prayed for the Israelites when he was burdened by their sin. Job prayed for the people who tried to get him to renounce his faith and succumb to his pressures. When you see others hurting and suffering, pray for them no matter how much they may have disappointed you. We disappoint God, and He never turns His back on us, so we should continue praying for others and not turn our backs on them.

God sent Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of the world. He gave us everything, including eternal life, and prayer returns that love and builds the relationship God wants to have with us. Knowing that God gave us eternal life, we can be confident every day that God will listen to our prayers. Not only can you show your love through prayer, but you can communicate that love to others with your Christian-based clothing.

How the Holy Spirit Helps Us Pray

Whether you’re a new Christian or have known Jesus for years, you might need to make your prayer life healthier. God has provided us a way to get help when we pray. God not only gave us eternal life, but He also gave us the holy spirit who dwells within us. The holy spirit works in every aspect of our lives, including prayer.

According to Romans 8:26–28 the holy spirit helps us in our prayer. We don’t pray alone—the holy spirit is always with us and helps us by:

• Motivating us to pray: The holy spirit understands what we may be facing now and in the future. The holy spirit urges us to pray whether for ourselves or for others.
• Intervening for us: Sometimes we don’t know how to pray, how we’re feeling, or how to express our request. We may not even know how to articulate our request, but the holy spirit intervenes. Knowing our needs, the holy spirit asks God to meet our needs according to God’s plan.
• Reveals our needs: Sometimes we might pray for something that doesn’t fit God’s plan for our lives, but the holy spirit works to reveal to us what our true needs are. If those needs or requests don’t fit God’s will, the holy spirit works to align those needs and wants with God’s will.

We have so much to be thankful for. God sent Jesus to die for our sins, and to create a relationship with us, God left a helper for each of us—the holy spirit. Prayer offers one of the best ways for us to build a relationship with Him, and when people begin to notice the power of our prayers, our faith-based clothing reveals how God is making a difference in our lives.