Change your life, pray to God!

Change your life, pray to God!

Prayer is foundational to our Christian life and our relationship with God. 

Teleios evaluated adolescent and millennial beliefs and habits about prayer. The survey was promoted on the Christian Instagram accounts, InstaPray and GodsHolyScriptures. Of the 428 respondents, the majority were: female (76%), <35 years old (77%), from the United States (54%), and evangelical (69%). All the findings of the survey can be found here.

The survey found that approximately 80% of participants pray to God every day. The most common topics for their prayers were: their own concerns (92%) and gratitude to God for their blessings (91%). However, when asked about what topics the Bible instructs them to pray, they most often indicated praise (87%) and thankfulness to God (86%).

Participants overwhelmingly prefer to pray at home and alone (93%). Further, they indicated they desire to pray at night (82%) with about 2/3 indicating morning or intermittent prayers throughout the day. Generally, participants preferred their prayers to be spontaneous (62%) while 19% used a predetermined mental or written list. Regarding responses to prayer, the great majority believed God answers prayer according to His will (88%).

Respondents noted Christians should pray in faith (77%), while about half each agreed the Holy Spirit and Christ pray for believers. When asked to pray for somebody else, a plurality of participants indicated they keep the information confidential (42%) and they pray for a while over time before stopping (40%).

Interestingly, when asked if praying in tongues or a person's native language was more useful, 40% noted the native language should at least sometimes be used while 40% expressed praying in tongues made no difference. In contrast, 20% believed that tongues should at least sometimes be used.

Further, those who praise the most often (P<0.0001), and especially in their native language (P=0.026), reported better wellbeing than those who did not or prayed in tongues. These points might emphasize that clearly articulated, biblically based communication with God provides a potential of enhanced wellbeing in the Christian life. 

This study shows that young evangelical typically pray daily, preferring a setting alone at home, at night and knowing God will answer prayer according to His will. 

However, they generally appear to lack knowledge over a number of biblical teachings regarding prayer such as: the Holy Spirit and Christ praying for believers, and that Christians should pray according to scripture, pray for all people and for government leaders. This provides opportunity for teaching about prayer from pastors and youth leaders.

OK so what does scripture say about prayer?

Prayer is one of the cornerstones of the Christian life. Scripture tells us that we should pray frequently and persistently. As Christians we can come boldly before God in prayer, uninhibited and unafraid, to receive mercy in our every time of need (Hebrews 10:19-22).

• The content of our prayers – This should be consistent with what glorifies Jesus Christ (John 14:13,14, 15:7). The content of our prayer generally should be:

o Thankfulness to God and for others (Philippians 1:3-4, Colossians 1:3)

o Praise to God (Hebrews 13:15)

o Petitions for ourselves and others (Philippians 4:6)

• Scriptural prayer guide – The apostle Paul offers 3 model prayers in which he emphasizes what God desire for us to attain by our prayers, no matter the situation (Ephesians 1:15ff, 3:14ff; Colossians 1:9-15) including: knowledge of our salvation and the Bible, wisdom, understanding, hope, power, knowing God’s love, service to God, patience, joy and persistence in our Christian walk. 

These wonderful prayers can be used as a model for what God wishes us to attain, in addition to any specific request we might pray for ourselves or others.

• God answers prayer (John 14:13-14; 1 John 5:14-15) – Wow, what a great promise! God says He will answer our prayers if we ask according to His will (i.e., scripture). Therefore, a key to an effective prayer life is knowing the epistles.

• How else does prayer help us?

o Prayer provides a release for our emotions to God, perhaps relieving tension and frustration (1 Peter 5:7).

o It engenders a sense that somebody cares and is listening. We also know that the Holy Spirit and Christ Himself pray on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:26,34)

o It causes us to pay attention to scripture as we pray and so provides us help to consider and form an answer to our problems as we ponder our requests to God.

o It reminds us to be thankful for others and for His blessings to us. It is hard to be angry with someone while you pray for them, which might reduce tensions and help relationships.

o It helps us to praise and remember that we have a great God whose purposes are greater than ours. Thus, it helps keep our own problems in perspective.

Therefore, prayer is a key tool to maturity as a Christian, invoking God’s help yet reminding us of scripture, praise and thankfulness, all which may our assist our wellbeing. Prayer is one of the great benefits of our Christian life.

Join us again next time as we discover the truth and benefits of the Bible together.

William C. Stewart, MD

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