by Leonard Keigher

Created on: January 08, 2010   Last Updated: February 08, 2010

Prayer is a joyous and oftentimes spontaneous outpouring of intimate and private feelings and thoughts addressed to our Creator and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our supplications can also just as easily be deeply anguished and passionate queries that are often punctuated by our own sorrowful weeping. We who are the body of Christ must approach genuine Christian prayer as we are. In fact it is probably correct to say that the real varieties of prayer are as individual as we are. 

Many pray to maintain an ongoing relationship with God. We pray at work, at play, in Church and with our family. By cultivating our continuous conversation with the Father, we are able to be constantly aware of not only our God , but also of our responsibility to address the many needs of those who might be suffering around us. We humans are made in the image and likeness of our Father. The complex issues that we personally face are often seen reflected here in this world in the deeply rooted moral errors as they play out on the Father's larger universe sized stage. It is our prayerfulness that allows us to appeal for the necessary guidance so that we might be of service when needed. 

The Father also allows us to participate and to become aware of his will for others through prayer. When we pray for others we are often asking that “the burden” that may be the subject of our supplicating prayer, be shifted from the shoulders of one who has finally reached his or her limit, to the shoulders of one who can bear all burdens with equanimity, our Saviour Jesus Christ. We also try to emulate the approach that Jesus applies to the problems of the day. We who are Christians often ache to carry some small portion of the burden Jesus bore for us. 

One object of Christian prayer is to prevail against the ever multiplying forces of darkness. As prayerful Christians we fellowship with one another as we await the coming day of the Lord. It is this fellowship feeling that encourages us to become closer and closer to each other and to our Saviour. This close prayerfulness acts as a constant wall of protection around each of us and therefore provides a feeling of security in an insecure world. 

If our prayer schedule allows us to maintain a close focus on our Saviour we may avoid the temptation of the many worldly traps which are there to snare the unwary. Of course there are many ways to maintain this focus, reading and reviewing some passage in the Bible and seeing how it might

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