PrayerI will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. - S. John, Ch. 14: vs. 13-14
Prayer is an important part of the Christian experience and is central to our spiritual life at Frodsham Methodist Church. Christians pray to God for all sorts of reasons. In the Bible, the letter of James says: Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. - James Ch. 5: vs. 13-16 Many people think you have to be quiet, put your hands together and kneel (at the foot of the bed) for prayer to be effective. As James' letter makes clear, this does not have to be the case. Prayer can be a loud, noisy occasion where we sing songs and give thanks to God. We can also use prayer to ask God for things or to ask for guidance. Prayer can be a sombre time where we ask forgiveness for sins, pray for loved ones or difficult situations. Jesus gave his disciples a prayer we call the Lord's Prayer (see Matthew Ch. 6: vs. 9-13 and Luke Ch. 11: vs. 2-4) that is obviously very well known, but prayer can take any form. The Bible tells us Jesus did go off to pray alone in a quiet place, but this is not the only way we can pray. It has been known for people to even use the short time whilst waiting for traffic lights to change for a quick moment of prayer with their God (and not just for the lights to turn green!!). More Information About Prayer For more information about why Christians pray and for prayers, see the Methodist Church in Britain's website on prayer, which includes 'creative prayer': an opportunity to view and share ideas for prayer. Also a different prayer for the day, taken from the Methodist Prayer Handbook, can be found here. Some useful external sites about prayer *though we do not monitor these sites and have no control over their content*: |
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1. Church of England Prayer & Worship
2. Baptist Union of Great Britain Prayer & Worship 3. Lost in Wonder (an online labyrinth, devised by the Methodist Church in Britain) 4. 24-7 Prayer 5. Christian Enquiry Agency 6. Stoke-on-Trent Beacon House of Prayer We have a weekly Intercessory Prayer Group which meets in Church on a Monday morning.
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