What happens when we pray?

Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. James 5:16 AMP

What happens when we pray? I don't know exactly how the mechanics of praying works, but when I read Jeremiah 29, it gives me hope that God listens and hears what we pray.

Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Jeremiah 29:12

When I reflect on our family's life, I can see many tangible answers to prayers in so many different areas including physical health, mental health, relationships and finances. These testimonies in our own life give me confidence to know that God listens and hears what we pray. Many many times for us, it has literally been a case of ...

I sought (inquired of) the Lord and required Him [of necessity and on the authority of His Word], and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4 AMP

And for us there have been many times of absolute necessity. There have been no other options other than to trust that God would bring us through these situations. And through these situations we have learned  this truth ...

Taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him. O fear the Lord, you His saints [revere and worship Him]! For there is no want to those who truly revere and worship Him with godly fear. Psalm 34:8 AMP

This scripture reminds us of the importance of our heart attitude when we pray .... those who truly revere and worship Him with godly fear.

Yes, our heart attitude is critical when it comes to communing with God. Harbouring unforgiveness is one  area God wants us to be released from before we come to Him, as Mark 11 tells us,

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop. Mark 11:25 AMP

This morning, I felt to encourage you to trust that God hears your prayers, and in that trust, to pray more often, about more circumstances and for more people that God puts on your heart. Keep a check on your heart attitude. Taste and see, that God is good.

Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to  be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't - not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again. James 5:16-18 The Message

And remember ...

The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. James 5:16 AMP