Prayer

Why pray?  Jesus speaking in Matthew 6 (verses 5 to 7) says “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you".  The word 'when' tells us it is simply assumed that we will be praying!  It is a natural response that we will want to speak to our Heavenly Father.  Of course, like most spiritual discipline it does not come naturally to us.  That is why Jesus taught us how to pray.

Prayer reminds us to seek God for our needs rather than other people or our own resources.  It puts God in His rightful place as Lord of our life.  It also shows concern for others.  God wants us to love others and to seek Him regarding their interests and welfare.  We can also pray for any number of other reasons – to say thank you, to express our joy, or simply to be in the presence of God. 

There are lots of excellent resources to help you get started praying.  A few are listed on this page, along with some issues you might wish to pray about. 
 

Prayer for Today

A prayer from the Church of Scotland World Missions Council.

Heavenly Father, for being all together in Prayer, for the blessing of Worship Service, for the one sitting next to me in the Worship Service, for the future of our Nation, for the strengthening of Christian faith in our country, for courage and opportunity of confession, Lord, Hear our prayer in Jesus' name.  Amen.  By an Elder from Budapest. 

UCB produce a daily prayer guide that you might find useful.  'Prayer for Today' is a quarterly prayer magazine and companion publication to The Word for Today. The vision of Prayer for Today is to equip and encourage people to pray more about issues that affect us, our community, our nation and our world...until we see change. The magazine contains powerful real-life testimonies of how prayer has changed lives, biblical teachings, informative, challenging and inspiring feature articles and local, national and global prayer initiatives. It includes a pull out daily prayer section to keep in your bible, which will help you to pray for a variety of topics and to act by showing the love of Jesus to those around you.  You can download a copy, or read the daily prayer from the UCB website. 
 

Praying for the World

What is God doing in the world today?  How can we best pray for mission and people around the world?  Now in its seventh edition, over 1 million copies of Operation World have now been sold.  It is the definitive prayer guide to the world.  Inside every country has a listing giving details of the country, its people, answered prayers to give thanks for, and current issues for prayer.  This is the ideal resource for anyone wishing to get involved in interceding for the nations.  Available from CLC Bookshop in Inverness or online.