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What is the purpose of prayer?

Prayer puts us into a day-by-day, moment-by-moment relationship with God. It allows us to get to know him. It's how we communicate with him. But it's more than just talking to God. So often we think of prayer as doing or saying something, but sometimes it's just being in God's presence.

Why don't I always feel God's presence when I pray?

There could be a number of reasons. Perhaps you're feeling disconnected because your times of seeking God have been inconsistent. That can make a difference. Perhaps there is some unconfessed sin in your life that's nagging at you, making you feel like you need to slink around when near God. Or maybe you're mad at God and need to have it out with him. But even a bigger issue: Feelings lie. We tend to take our emotional temperature at every turn. Feelings aren't everything. The important thing is to keep praying. Don't quickly conclude that because you don't "feel" much nothing is happening. There is never prayer where nothing happens.

Why don't I hear God respond to my prayers?

How do you know you haven't heard God? How do you know God hasn't been answering, perhaps in a whisper, or through circumstances, or through your conscience? A lot of times we're so rushed and busy talking we don't pause to listen. We fill our lives with sound and drown out God's normal way of speaking, which is through a still, small voice.

It takes patience and practice to hear God. As we grow in familiarity and intimacy with him, we will be better able to hear. God communicates with us all the time—through the beauty of creation, the love of friends and family, and especially through Jesus Christ. Jesus was the Word of God made flesh. His coming to earth was God conking us over the head with the truth that we can enjoy fellowship with him. And then, of course, he speaks to us through the Bible. It's called "The Word" for a good reason. It's full of all the truth and guidance we need to live a rich, faithful Christian life.

Sometimes it's hard for me to talk to someone I can't see, someone I can't really picture.

I think having a mental picture of the God you're talking to is absolutely essential for a vibrant prayer life. To form that picture, you have to understand something about the nature of God. Obviously, if your idea of God is a silent or uncaring being, it's not going to inspire very much prayer. But if you take to heart what Scripture says about God, you'll find he's a God of compassion—a caring God who wants us to come to him.

I first began to see this when I was in junior high. I remember one day I was talking to my best friend, and a mutual friend of ours came up and asked my friend, "Have you ever read the Bible?" I don't remember how my friend responded, but I remember that an answer began forming in me which was, "Here I've gone to church all these years, and I really don't know what's in the Bible. I don't really read it for myself. I don't have that first-hand acquaintance with God."

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