7 Benefits of Prayer

By Alvin Vandergriend Something happens when we pray that would not have happened if we hadn’t prayed. That statement summarizes a lot of what the Bible says about prayer. It is also a reminder of how much our prayers affect God’s way of ruling in our lives and in the world. (Read longer article “What…

Find Your Prayer Style (Part 2)

By Jonathan Graf In Part 1 of Find Your Prayer Style, we learned that we all have a different prayer style. But what is our prayer style based upon, and how do we discover what ours is so we can develop as a powerful prayer warrior? PRAYER AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS We start by finding our…

Find Your Prayer Style (Part 1)

My mind kept wandering. I wasn’t going to make it through this prayer meeting. Prayer after lengthy prayer covered everything mentioned during request time. On my knees, with my head in my arms, I was fighting sleep. I only held passionate interest in two or three of the issues being prayed about. Was I just a…

How Prayer Rewires the Brain!

By Elizabeth (and Joy) Schmus Did you know that spending daily time in prayer actually causes measurable changes in our brains? I was so inspired by this research my high school daughter Joy discovered that I knew I had to share it with you my “Prayer Hack” and Church Prayer Leaders Network friends! Here is…

To Whom Should I Pray?

You don’t have to be a Christian for long before you hear people praying to different persons of the Trinity. “O God” or “Father God,” “Jesus, You have said in Your Word,” “Holy Spirit, come upon us now,” and similar phrases are common across denominational lines. But perhaps the question lingers: To whom should I…

Praying When You Get the Wind Knocked Out of You

When I was in my junior high years we lived in the small town of Sherrill, NY, on a street with nine guys within a year of each other in age. We had a lot of fun and got into some innocent trouble together. A great time in life! I recall one night hanging out…

Prayer Can Be Caught

My seven-year-old grandson can drive! Oh, don’t worry, Jack doesn’t take the car out on the highway. But he can drive our tractor/mower and our all-terrain vehicle on our rural property. Again, don’t worry. He can’t do it without Grampy sitting with him. There is a safety mechanism that requires him to sit on the…

How on Earth Can I “Pray without Ceasing”?

First Thessalonians challenges us to “pray continually,” (5:17) or as another version puts it, “pray without ceasing.” Oh good grief, you think. I can barely remember to pray once a day! How in the world am I going to pray without ceasing? Without a major theology lesson, I do not think that verse means you…

Is Having a Place to Pray Important?

I remember as a young boy often seeing my parents’ bedroom door open a crack and my mother kneeling in prayer beside the bed. I somehow knew I wasn’t to disturb her there because something intimate was taking place. I later learned that this was Mom’s place to daily meet with God. As I grew…

Pray Scripture: A Powerful Weapon to Use

There are many methods of prayer that we can use to develop our prayer lives. But the best, the most powerful one that I have discovered is praying God’s Word, praying Scripture. Writing in Pray! magazine, author Jane McLain said, “When I turn what Scripture says about God into meditation, prayer, and praise. I relate to Him…