Encouragement to Pray
This page gives some of the encouraging results from the "On our Knees" survey run by the Teal Trust over the summer of 1998. The conclusion is clear - praying is good for you!!
| As Christians, we value personal
prayer as a key component of our faith. 47% of respondents rated personal prayer as vital
to their Christian life and faith, with a further 30% rating it important. The remaining
23% rated it either unimportant or fairly important. What is included in this prayer time
will vary widely according to personal preference and prayer style. Whilst there are several things that can hinder us from praying, overall the belief and experience of respondents was so positive that two thirds (64%) would agree or strongly agree that they would like to spend more time in prayer. |
||
| Those Christians who both pray
regularly and read their bibles regularly find their experience of prayer enriched.
The 30% of respondents who read the bible every day or most days and
spent an hour or more in private prayer each week had a much richer experience of two way
communication with God. - 81% of this subgroup spent time listening to God as well as talking to him, compared with 62% of the total sample of 6000. - 79% have experienced God communicating with them as they pray, compared with 58% of the total sample. - Further, almost all of this sub-group
(97%) claim to have experienced answered prayer, compared with 85% of the total group. |
 |
|
|
Some of these results are very positive testimony to the power of prayer - 93% of respondents believe God hears their prayer, and 85% of them feel they have experienced prayer being answered. Just over half of respondents (59%) agree or strongly agree that they have experienced God communicating with them as they pray. When you look at those respondents who say they spend time listening to God as well as talking to Him, over four out of five respondents would agree they have exeperienced God communicating with them as they pray.. Sceptics may argue that respondents to a survey on prayer would be likely to respond positively to such statements, but nevertheless, the testimony from over three thousand individual Christians from over 400 churches is clear - when we pray, God not only listens, but answers our prayer, and is willing and ready to speak to us, through our prayer and through His word. And should we be surprised? Jesus said "I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father." (Jn14:13) |
|
