I am sure that everyone and anyone who attends church services has a real awareness that PRAYER is an essential part of the call to holiness and an important ingredient in any attempt at personal transformation or change. Prayer helps to establish a personal relationship with God and fortifies any efforts at personal change. The important thing is to learn how to pray.

It has often been said that prayer is really a conversation with God. It must have a personal dimension to it. The problem that most people encounter is that, because God is invisible, they find it difficult to make their prayer a conversation. More often than not, people resort to formulized prayers – that is prayers written by others or the Church as a means of communicating with God. This is where most people start. They recite a number of standardized prayers with the hope that they are communicating with God. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this in our initial attempts at a real relationship with God.

It is important to remember, however, that when we use formal prayers, we must pause and also listen to any response to the prayer. God responds in many unique ways: (1) a new thought comes to mind; (2) a new insight surfaces; or (3) a new inspiration expresses itself.

God’s response is typically not like regular human conversation, although it could be. It usually seems to be more like a new idea that is triggered in our thoughts. God operates this way so that He honors our independence and free will. He never outright tells us what to do. He allows things to happen that cause us to think and come up with solutions and ideas ourselves.

While this is true, we still have to be vigilant and open ourselves to the movement of the Spirit within us. God has planted His Spirit within us to help us and guide in our spiritual growth. Of course we first have to want to spiritually grow and change. We can disregard the insights that the Spirit causes to appear in our lives. God, in His Spirit, however persists and continues to try and help us grow.