Unique Bible Study Method

This Unique Bible Study Method is simple, clear and easy to understand. This study method is based on biblical rules taken from and explained by the verses of the Holy Bible, thus:

The pure words of God are presented in a unique, very clear question and answer format, giving sole importance to the Holy Bible.

Answers to all the bible study questions are taken directly from the verses of the bible.

No personal interpretation are made,

No personal opinion are given,

No personal ideas and no weaving of stories around quoted verses are presented,

No personal speculation on "what God will do and will not do" are introduced.

This unique biblical method ensure that only the truth from the Almighty God written and taught by the Prophets, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Apostles are clearly presented to you.

"We present the verses - not opinions. You decide if it is the biblical truth" is the fundamental and guiding principle in the development of this website.

The verses are presented in answer to questions that will lead you to the truth. It is up to you to decide after a very careful evaluation, if you will believe it as the biblical truth or not.

Who the author is unimportant in this study. There is absolutely no need to believe in the author. What is of utmost importance is to believe in the truth that is written in the Bible. You can easily verify the truth—read it directly in your own Bible.

Studying and understanding the words of God written in the Holy Bible is completely different from all man-made books because all scripture is based on the infinite wisdom of God, as all scripture was given by inspiration of God. (2Tim. 3:16) Thus, this unique biblical method of teaching the Holy Scriptures is not based on human wisdom but on what the Holy Spirit teaches. We explain spiritual things with spiritual words. (2 Cor. 2:13, IEB) We hold on to this unique biblical method as our standard of sound teaching as taught by Apostle Paul. (2 Tim. 1:13, NRSV)

With a pure heart, a clean conscience and a holy purpose, your heart and mind will be opened to the scriptural truth. You will slowly but surely come to the knowledge of the truth as the purpose and plan of God for your life becomes clear and meaningful to you. As you study the words of God, the seed of faith will be sown, then nurtured in your heart. Your faith will grow as your knowledge
about the Lord God Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ gradually increase.

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John Munro says essentially, to know God, means to have a growing dynamic personal relationship with Him. Even within a Christian community, we can have a distorted view of Him. “We can construct a God in our own image rather than studying the Scriptures to learn about Him. God revealed Himself through these Scriptures so that we may know Him more intimately,” said Munro.
“We often have a small and inadequate view of God, content in our knowledge of and intimacy with Him. Even when we do have a living relationship, we need to pursue him more. For instance, when we get married, we don’t usually think, ‘well, I’m married now. I don’t need to get to know my
husband or wife any better.’ Just like in a marriage relationship, we can very easily become stale in a relationship with God.”

At the Cove this weekend, Munro is challenging seminar participants to live a holy life in an unholy world, rely more fully on His power, and display His grace in all of their relationships. “If we have a relationship with God, how does it impact the way we live? When we know God more intimately, we become more familiar with His nature. Then, we have an increased passion for God, and our
trust grows, because God is 100 percent reliable.”

Munro also explains that we can gain godly character traits, such as wisdom, as we spend more time with God and get to know Him more.
“Proverbs 9:10 tells us that ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.’ So, if I do know God, I should grow in wisdom, because God is infinitely wise. As we take on this godly wisdom, we should begin to make less and less foolish mistakes. But, we’ll always battle with ego, flesh, devil, and worldly forces drawing
us away from God.”

Ultimately, he says a life centered on Christ will increase our love and knowledge of God – and that love relationship will deepen with a desire to obey. “He tells us if we love Him we will keep His commands. The more secure we are in his love, the more we want to please, serve and worship him. That love has to grow, and a lot of us take God’s love for granted and enjoy only a small part
of it. We need to start enjoying that love to the fullest.”

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What does the Gospel mean to us between now and the time we go to Heaven? We are delivered from the strongholds of sin and experience the power of transformation in our lives. Let’s examine the life of the Peter the disciple, or Simon Peter, one of the first and most well-known converts of Christ Jesus.

In the first chapter of John, we can see that Jesus changed Peter’s name from Simon as he became a Christ follower. Nothing is really said in this passage about the power of the Gospel in Peter’s life at this point, but this tells us that he did, indeed, choose to follow Christ. That is what we must first do in order to experience the power of the Gospel in our daily lives.

Before we look further into the life of Peter, let’s look at the word, “power,” as it is used in several instances in the New Testament.The original Greek word for “power,” is dunamis, pronounced doo-nam-is. This means “able, capable of.” Although the English word, “dynamite,” was taken from the word, it doesn’t mean an explosive sort of power. It refers to an unleashed, reserved power – the kind that requires someone to utilize in order to be active. A power ready be tapped into.

Let’s see how Peter did that.

Power in Victory Despite Our Doubt

In Luke 5, we read the account of the disciples’ call. In this passage, Jesus began teaching them from the boat in the lake after disappointing results from a fishing trip. In verse 4, Jesus instructs Peter to let his net down in the water for a catch.

Skeptically, he did so. But, he was also respectful about it. Let’s look at verse 5 how he responds to Jesus’ instruction:

“And Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but at Your bidding I will let down the nets’.”

Notice that he was doubtful. He didn’t say, “Yes, Lord…let’s try that again.” His tone was more skeptical. He may as well have said, “Well, here goes nothing!”

Doubt. Skepticism. Complacency. They are all a part of the human condition. Even as believers in Christ, we sometimes choose to live in defeat. However, the difference between those of us who live in the defeat of doubt and those who tap into the power of the Gospel in our lives, like Simon Peter, is submission.

Notice that Simon Peter referred to Jesus as “Master,” acknowledging Christ for Who He is. He was also “real” with Jesus. In other words, he didn’t put up any pretenses. He was not too prideful to voice his weakness, that is, his doubt, to Jesus. However, he did so respectfully, and he yielded
to Jesus’ command by letting down the nets.

And what happened once Peter got over himself and obeyed despite his doubt? He saw divine power unleashed in his life and in the lives of the others. Verses 6 and 7 tell us that they not only caught fish, they caught more than the boat could handle. Power…at work.

In verse 8, Peter was so overtaken with awe and repentance at the same time, that he fell at Jesus’ feet.

When was the last time you experienced the power of the Gospel in such a way that you fell before the Lord (either literally or figuratively)? If you know Jesus personally, you have access to that power. It’s time to tap into it!

Power to Redeem Despite Our Sin

Perhaps one of the most ominous stories in the New Testament is that of Peter’s denial of Jesus shortly before His crucifixion. Like many of us, Peter thought he wasn’t capable of such a sin. In the fourteenth chapter of Mark, Jesus warned him that he would deny Him three times. But Peter insisted he wouldn’t, saying, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

Read the account of the denial in Mark 14: 66-72. The last sentence conveys the conviction upon Simon Peter: “And he began to weep.”

Pause for a moment and let his feeling of remorse set in. How grieved must he have felt? If you have known Jesus personally, then chances are, you have felt that way – grieved over your sin.

Peter’s grief over his sin says something about the power of the Gospel – that it has the power to convict. While the records of Peter’s life throughout Scripture tell us he was quite imperfect and certainly fallible, it also tells us he loved his Lord. The Gospel does not bring guilt, but rather
brings conviction.

The difference? Guilt is what we feel when we’ve been caught and we're concerned about what it does to ourselves; Conviction is what we experience when we know we’ve offended a holy God. Feeling, versus experience.

For the believer, the power of redemption is available if we make the choices to act on that conviction.

One of the sweetest passages of restoration throughout Scripture is John 21:15-17. Post-resurrection Jesus showed at the Sea of Galilee, where the disciples were fishing. He repeated the fishing miracle discussed earlier so that He could reveal Himself to them.

A bit later in the morning, Jesus asked Simon Peter not once, but three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter had denied His Lord three times; now, he had the opportunity to proclaim his love for Him three times.

Once Peter was restored, he was then charged to feed the flock, and had an active role in the early church. He had the privilege of preaching the sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-36) and ministered in the name of Jesus before his death. Peter did not let past failures keep him from experiencing the power of the Gospel in his life.

Don’t believe the lie that you cannot be used because of your past, or even your present. There is an endless Source of power, waiting to be tapped into. We just have to make the choice to experience it through submission and restoration.

Now Is the Time
The Gospel, or “Good News” is at work in our lives now. “Good News” isn’t limited to salvation from hell, but extends into every area of our lives. It is Good News that we can experience forgiveness, freedom from the shackles of sin and a spiritually abundant life. Take hold of the power made available to you through Jesus.

If you are a believer in Christ, you can have assurance that “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

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Pray According to the Bible:

In our human nature, it is very easy to pray with selfish motives or for things to happen which God prohibits in the Bible. For example, there are Christians who have prayed for God to bring specific people, who were not Christians, with them in a romantic relationship. God clearly tells us in Scripture that he intends for believers to be yoked only with one another (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Or, let’s suppose someone does not get along with his brother-in-law and he prays that his sister will divorce him. Here again, this is not in the will of God. He has expressed His hate of divorce (Malachi 2:16).

1 John 5:14 says that we can be confident “if we ask anything according to His will, then He hears us.” How can we know we are praying His will? When we spend time getting to know Him through the Scriptures. The more in tune we get with the heart of God through the study of His Word, the more effectively we can pray according to His will. Oftentimes, prayer will change us.

Pray for Change:
Many of us have heard the phrase, “prayer changes things.” And it is true. Throughout the Bible, we see God move greatly throughout circumstances based on someone’s plea. One example is David’s plea, which moved God to withhold a plague in Israel, despite His anger (2 Samuel 24:25). Another example is Isaac’s intercession for his barren wife Rebekah, Isaac prayed
for her to conceive and the Lord allowed it (Genesis 25:21).

There are many more instances such as this recorded in the Bible. As you can see, God allowed Himself to be moved by the prayers of people. It is important to know that God never changes, and He is all knowing; He knows how He is going to answer prayers and He knows how we are going to pray about something. While He may adjust His actions, His purposes stay the same. He knows what is best for us.

Pray for Eternal Life:
The most important prayer you can ever pray is when you ask Jesus Christ to become Lord and Savior of your life. Every human being is born sinful, and sin separates us from God. Jesus died on a cross and rose from the grave to defeat sin, which is ultimate death, and offers reconnection between God and us.

When Christ comes into your life, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. This allows you to pray with discernment and pray according to His perfect, pleasing will.

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As I read this question, I imagine a genuine, earnest, exploring spirit in conversation with me. You have journeyed to this Web site in search of information. It may be that you will also encounter inspiration. I will do my very best with your questions. I hope your quest will lead you to more questions and deeper answers, and to the Spirit of God who will fill in the better responses between my lines. You ask: What if God does not answer my prayers?

If you are like me, “my” prayers are what I call “prescription” prayers. It is as if we expect God to be a Holy Pharmacist. I prescribe — and God is to fill it, to answer it. Sometimes, so it seems, our prescriptions do get filled as we have requested. Then, at other times, we do not receive “our” answers. My own experience is that I have tended to grow more spiritually (granted, painfully) with God's ultimate answers than with “my” answers, even if occasionally they are one and the same.

Several one-liner reflections on “my” prayers and God's answers. First, there seems to be no such things as a “professional” at prayer. There are only beginners who pray by beginning again and again and again. A second reflection: Maybe the most important thing about prayer is simply to show up. Third, prayer is more about the development of a relationship than about “my” answers. It will be that unique, sacred relationship which will calm my storms and lead me to the light, more than my receiving a quick prescription. A fourth reflection: Prayer, the kind that shows up again
and again, the kind that prays through the foul weather and not just in fair weather, that prayer leads the one who prays to new awareness, new horizons, new visions of justice and peace. The great saints of yesterday and today seem to be those whose prayer life leads them to God, rather than to a response which meets their needs. Are not our deepest needs the needs of the soul? Enter, sole
God.
--The Rev. Dr. Douglass M. Bailey

Let's look first at how we ask the question. I believe that God's grace precedes our prayers, that in a sense, God's answer is offered before we even ask. And yet, our asking is still important, because that is the way we discover God's presence and God's desires for us, the way we become receptive to God's presence, the way we become open to God's guidance, malleable in the hands of God as clay is malleable in the hands of the potter.

Another way of putting this is that I don't believe God intervenes in response to our prayers in order to miraculously change the circumstances of our lives, but rather that God responds to us through the power of the Spirit working in us. In response to our asking, God gives us God's self, and through us — through the power of God's presence in us — we become the very agents
through which God works in answer to our requests. A statement by T.H. Williams expresses this same understanding in a strong, eloquent way: "We show a lack of faith in God by a lack of faith in ourselves as proceeding from God's creative act." So you, readers, what do you think? I'd be curious to hear.
--The Rev. Margaret B. Gunness

God may answer our every prayer but not in the way that we hope. First, there are many kinds of prayer; e.g., praise, confession, intercession, thanksgiving, petition. Many of us think of the last as "prayer." But in the case of praise and thanksgiving, we know by faith that God answers those prayers just by receiving them. The others are trickier: God answers our confession with His absolution, but we only know that in our heart if the weight of guilt is lifted. If we truly confess and truly repent and if we truly are committed to new behavior, we will know we have been answered.

When we intercede for another for example for a friend undergoing cancer surgery — we can only pray and leave it in God’s hands. If that person dies, we cannot assume that God has not answered our prayer. For one thing, what was the nature of our prayer? Did we pray that our friend would be cured and healed and made healthy? That simply may not happen. Illness, aging and death are all
part of the human condition, and God does not promise that He will exempt us; God promises, rather, that if we allow Him to be present to us during such suffering, we will know the light and the strength and the peace of His sovereignty over us and all our situations. So perhaps when we intercede, we need to think about another kind of prayer, for example, one asking that our friend’s heart and spirit be trusting and open to God’s presence.

When it comes to petition, we are at the heart of the matter for many of us. What we must say here is that God answers our every petition but He often says no. There is an old saying: "Be careful what you pray for; you may get it." I will give you a personal example: One night in 1986, I was drifting into sleep when I prayed a prayer of petition; that is, I asked God for something. What I said was, "God, cut me some slack!" I was praying about finances, my personal finances and the finances of my parish, which had been "land-and-building-poor" for some 200 years.

There was plenty of space for worship and classes, even for clergy and staff housing, but not much cash with which to heat them in winter (this was in New York), cool them in summer, and provide all the other resources that would enable us as a parish to fully utilize such gifts. Personally, my wife and I had enough to get by, and we were far better off than most people in the world, as are
most Americans, but we had no savings, no extra, no cushion or the wherewithal for some of the things we thought we needed and surely wanted. So, "God, cut me some slack" was my prayer that night.

Within a few months, my life and the life of my parish had changed dramatically. My mother in Florida had become gravely ill and had died, and as a result, I had some slack in my income, which meant little at the time in the midst of my grief. Plus the parish had received a bequest for several millions of dollars and was in a civil war as to how to use it: for others or for ourselves. Dark clouds lived over my life and the life of the parish for a long time after that.

So sometimes God says no. It is always okay to pray for whatever we want, but we should think a long time to make sure we really want it.

What if God doesn’t answer our prayers? Perhaps we are being sent in a new direction, and that new direction may be the answer to prayers we haven’t even thought of yet!
--The Rev. William A. Kolb

My experience has been that God does indeed answer prayers. The trouble is I don't always like what He has to say. The majority of my prayers seem to revolve around me in one way or another. Usually, I have already figured out what I want, and I ask God to provide it. Oftentimes my plan is not His plan, and His schedule is not my schedule. Accepting His plan and truly putting Him first
is very difficult, but on the rare occasions when I am able to do so, I find that I am always blessed.

I have also found that many things interfere with my prayer life. It is hard enough to find time to really talk to God, but it is seemingly impossible to find time to listen. Yet, with God all things are possible. I sometimes see a glimpse of the Light. My personal experience has been that He was serious when He said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7). I just need to spend more time asking for the first things first and then listening.

One last point: Like most people, there have been times when I felt God had abandoned me. How, I wondered, could He turn His back on ME? When I have reflected upon those experiences, I realize it was I who let Him down. God was not there because I had pushed Him away. I was too busy. I was focussed on the wrong things. I was allowing many other things to come before Him. I was not listening.

When my mind is clear and I allow myself to be receptive to His grace, I find that I am answered.
-- Nick

I don't believe many of us know the mind of God, particularly when we are asking God for something. Most of the saints are not recognized for their prayers of request, but for being able to hear the still, small voice of God in their lives. Someone has said prayer is more a matter of opening your mind than opening your mouth.
--Jim

There are many kinds of prayer. Some of them do not require an answer from God at all, because they are occasions when we are simply telling God what we feel. Table graces are an example; we feel glad that God has blessed us by providing for our needs, so we tell God how grateful we are.

But there are times when we pour out our hearts to God. Sometimes we are angry at a misfortune, or hurt by another person's thoughtless words, or wracked with grief. At times like these, we sometimes don't even know what to say. According to the New Testament, when this happens, the Holy Spirit speaks to the Father for us, using a heavenly language humans cannot even know.

Prayers like these can continue literally for years. Often we are so focused on what we are feeling, we do not notice what is happening to us. But I believe that we never pray deeply without being changed. The change is not always profound; it is sometimes so small as to be imperceptible.

When I have prayed for a long time for something to happen, I sometimes feel it is senseless to pray about it any more, that surely God must be weary of hearing my requests again and again. Nevertheless, over a long period of time, these encounters of God have changed me. I have become bitter about God's failure to perform as I wish; or I stop feeling the need for the thing I was praying for; or I begin to see that the thing I wanted from God would have been bad for me, and that God was wise to withhold it.

Whatever the case, I believe that God is the Best Listener. God knows exactly where I'm coming from, and I don't have to be pretentious or summon up some holy effort. I have discovered also that God's willingness to listen to my inmost secrets never ceases. That in itself is the only answer God has ever promised to us. But as we learn to revel in its extravagant spareness, it becomes enough.
--David

A contemporary song has a line that goes, "And I wouldn't know a burning bush if it blew up in my face." I think that's true for most of us. I believe God always answers our prayers, it just may not be the answer we want or one we're looking for.
--Ann

Prayer can take on different forms according to the situation. Supplication for me involves my ability to cope. I ask for strength and clarity. A quote from Ethics by Spinoza: "Emotion which is suffering ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it."

First, I sort out what I can do about a given situation. Those factors out of my control automatically fall into God's hands. Faith gives me the courage to accept God's will. Often God's answers are available for me. However, my own awareness is the conduit for God's messages.
--Louise

God hears the prayers of everyone. Oftentimes, when someone does not receive an immediate, favorable answer from God, he or she then assumes that God either didn't hear the prayer or doesn't care to answer. Even the most attentive and devout Christian has felt a touch forsaken by God at times when life seems to be dealing too many hard blows without any abatement. In fact, God is answering all of our prayers — as He sees fit. Man cannot ever assume that by merely asking God for something it becomes apt or fitting for his situation. Our Father knows how our prayers must be answered, and we must trust Him to make those decisions for us. By so doing we strengthen our holy faith in God.

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Often when people feel they don't know how to pray, it's because they haven't considered the possibility that they're already doing it. Prayer is our relationship to God, pure and simple. More awareness and intention in any relationship is a good thing. If you understand prayer as relationship with God, you can see how sometimes you are watching God at work, sometimes you're listening to God's voice, sometimes you're chattering away, sometimes you're arguing, and sometimes you're just sitting quietly together.

There may be a presupposition that prayer happens in church or by the bed, on your knees, in a set form. It does. All set forms are potential resources. Assuming a particular posture may help you focus. Having set times and places of prayer provides useful structure. However, prayer can happen anytime, any place, and in any manner. People who aren't going to church or saying bedtime prayers are frequently engaged in more informal kinds of prayer than they realize.

For example, perhaps you had a dream, the kind that sticks with you and shimmers. Or you may have come to value your nightmares, having discovered they bear insights into your fears. You hope this morning's dream may yield its meaning, its counsel, its guidance, its truth. You may jot it down for later reflection. When you receive your dreams as gifts, you are thanking your Creator for them. That's prayer.

As you awake, a hope for the day runs through your mind. You hear a fragment of a song, a hymn, a musical score. Someone's face pops up in your mind's eye. You enjoy the daylight streaming in the window. You gaze fondly at the one sleeping next to you. These are prayers of hope, inspiration, love, gratitude. As you begin to recognize these stirrrings as the movement of the Spirit within, you begin to trust the divine companion, who is always with you.

Maybe in the shower, you anticipate the day to come. You hope to untangle a problem with the production schedule. You dread a meeting with a coworker. Your anger rises, remembering yesterday's conflict. As your defenses tense, you realize you will need to be in a different frame of mind to achieve the best possible cooperation. Of course that's prayer. When you recognize your concerns as prayer, you can focus and shape them. You can let go of your fretful preoccupation with them.

As you swallow your toast, you see Uncle Fred's picture on the refrigerator. He's recovering from surgery, and you're relieved about that. You feel a twinge because he's getting old, and you haven't been back home to visit for a while. You remember that your child has a game this afternoon and is nervous about it. Your heart goes out to her. All this is the energy of prayer at work.

Most people tell me they get a lot of praying done in their cars during commute times. Some keep lists. Others just allow things to bubble up. Some pray for the drivers who seem most out of control. Imagine how many people pray for those involved in accident scenes along the road. There was once a moment when I was watching the television news and felt close to despair. All of a sudden, the words of the Kyrie began to pray in me—"Lord have mercy upon us"— lifting my spirit and addressing the situation. I've repeated it ever since, when news stories call for it.

There is also the prayer that happens in times of personal difficulty and distress. "I hope I can get through this. Steady now, stay calm, concentrate. Help! How will I ever get through this?" Understanding such inner dialogue as conversation with the divine companion helps us recognize such terse interchanges as prayers for clarity, strength, direction, deliverance. It has been said there are no atheists in the trenches. We're all in the trenches, if you ask me.

I've also come to hear prayer disguised in swearing and cursing. When someone takes God's name in vain, as we say, I'm no longer so sure it's altogether in vain, since they still remember it and have some kind of distorted relationship to it. Alienated from God, the appeal to God is still made. We can all be estranged from God, mad, sulky and pouting, standoffish, suspicious, or overly polite. We can hold a grudge or stonewall. Or we can trust God enough to spit it all out onto the table and have at it, as some of the pslamists and prophets did.

An amazing thing about prayer is that our capacity for intimacy with God is also our capacity to be close to ourselves and others. It's all connected. And, as with any spiritual exercise, prayer benefits from practice, awareness, intention, reflection, and more practice. But it's still as natural as breathing. By the way, God's voice is heard in creation, in nature, in human nature, in scripture, and in all forms of inspiration. When what you hear carries something like an electric charge, as a special dream does, that's a good clue. It captures your attention, pierces your confusion, arrests your presupposition. It thrills, convicts, consoles, directs. God does talk back.

Pray the The Lord's Prayer. In this short prayer Jesus helped the disciples learn that prayer was first of all coming into God's presence. This is where all prayer must begin. The prayer then became asking for their daily sustenance, pleading for their own forgiveness and for the courage to forgive others, and requesting God to keep them from all that would undermine their movement toward union with God. Sometimes it is helpful to have prayers like The Lord's Prayer that you can carry with you in your heart.

We are all beginners at prayer and when we recognize this, we are able to pray well. In its most basic of forms, prayer is simply talking. It is spilling out the contents of your heart to the One who loved that heart into existence. Prayer does not need to be a refined and grammatically correct set of phrases that follow established policies and procedures! Prayer is as varied as each person's personality.

There are times when you will find that prayer arises unbidden from within. Perhaps someone you love is in need, perhaps your life feels overwhelming, perhaps you have inner questions that are disturbing your peace, or perhaps you feel lonely or afraid. Words and even tears rise up within you seeking release. The words flow and you pour out what is inside until you are empty and quiet. A disciple once asked one of the desert fathers how to pray. His answer is refreshing. "There is no need to speak much in prayer; often stretch out your hands and say, 'Lord, as you will and as you know, have mercy on me.' But, if there is war in your soul, add, 'Help me!' and because God knows what we need, he shows mercy on us."

Prayer is not a science that must be mastered in order to be effective. Prayer at its essence is re-claiming your right to attend to your inner life. It's collecting the pieces of life and bringing them to the One who alone can bring your soul back into balance.

All prayer arises out of silence. If you want to know how to pray, step into silence. God is present there, and your heart will pray and God will speak. Here is a simple exercise that may help.

Sit down and become aware of your breath.

As you breathe slowly, allow your busy mind to become centered by allowing it to descend into the quietness of your heart.

Let your heart speak whatever it needs to say.

Listen for the word of God that may come audibly, or as an insight, or as a feeling of peace or clarity.

After a few minutes, thank God for the time that you have spent together and slowly return to an awareness of your breath.

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I suppose there are many answers to this question. Here's one (or several strung together) for starters.

I believe that the power of prayer is first felt inside of us. It's a sense of God's assent, somewhat like someone answering our phone call when the phone has been ringing for a long time and we're wondering if maybe we should just hang up and try again another time. Then a voice answers and simply says, "I'm here. I'm listening to you." Communication has been established!

God has assented to our calling. God has assented to be in relationship with us. God has assented to us—to you, to me, to who we are and who we hope to be. But why? you might ask. And why now? Because that is God's deepest desire and what God has been hoping for all along. I believe that we experience the power of God when we sense God's assent to our seeking and even realize that God has been reaching out for us all along.

The power of prayer is the power that comes to us when we realize that God can be our point of reference in the midst of all the confusions of our daily lives, the steadfastness of God rather than the incomplete, fragile inconstancies of ourselves. It's the power that comes when we're able to be centered, anchored in a belief and rooted in a Truth, which is stronger and deeper than the day-to-day truths we struggle with.

I think this may have been what the apostle Paul had experienced when he wrote to the people of Ephesus about God's desire for us "that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of people, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles." (Ephesians 4:14) In prayer our hearts and minds can be focused on the eternal truths of
God and not the changing, fickle truths of human knowledge and human nature.

The power of prayer is the constant renewal of perspective. Prayer opens our eyes. It extends our horizons. It sheds light into the darkness of our fears and our sorrows, our hopes and joys, our shame and our pride. It gives us new ways of seeing life and relationships, of understanding work and the cost of growing.

The power of prayer is real and palpable. You can feel it and know it and depend on it. It comes to us as a gift, but we need to do our part as well. God calls us to pray and through our prayer, God empowers us and gives us strength.

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