Prayer is meant to give you a personal, direct line of communication to the Creator of the universe. You can make requests of the Almighty God and have Him direct some of His unlimited power to fulfill them, be they for peace, prosperity, protection, wisdom, healing or myriad other blessings for you, your family, friends, enemies, nation or the world.

Are your prayers being answered? If not, why not?

Is God listening? A growing number of people believe the answer is no. In a secular world, many mock the idea of prayer.

If these prayers are not being heard, why even pray? Yet if they are being heard, then why do we still see so much suffering, trouble and strife around us?

The Bible has much to say about prayer. Our free book How to Pray is written according to the foundational belief that what the Bible says is true—that it can be trusted and ought to be followed.

Scripture gives a great deal of instruction on how to pray. It explains to whom we should pray, what our attitude should be when we pray, what we should pray about, and many other details. It gives many spectacular examples of answered prayer and many promises from God to answer prayer.

If you apply yourself and implement what this book teaches, you will gain access to Almighty God! He will listen to you.

The Hebrew word for prayer used most often in the Old Testament means intercession, or supplication. The literal meaning is to prostrate oneself or bow down. In the New Testament, the Greek terms translated prayer mean to supplicate, worship or make prayer.

Supplication is an earnest request or humble entreaty. To supplicate means to ask for earnestly and humbly. To entreat means to make a request in an earnest or urgent manner. Prayer can also refer to intercession or a plea. Prayer, then, is intercession or earnest, intense supplication to God.

Prayer is our part in a two-way conversation with God. God talks to us through His written Word, the Holy Bible, and we can talk to Him through prayer.

“When you study the Bible, God is talking to you. When you pray, you are talking to Him. You get to really know God in this manner, just as you become better acquainted with people by conversation,” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in The Incredible Human Potential.

Real prayer is communication with Almighty God through our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is us talking to our heavenly Father in an attitude of humility, contrition, awe, reverence and deep respect. It is backed by the power and authority of Jesus Christ.

During Jesus’s ministry on Earth, His disciples asked Him, “Teach us to pray.” How did Christ respond? “And he said unto them, When ye pray, say …” (Luke 11:2; also Matthew 6:5). He didn’t say, “If you pray.” God expects to hear from us. Matthew 6:11 makes plain that we should pray daily and ask God to supply our needs.

Notice Luke 18:1: “And he [Jesus Christ] spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” And in Luke 21:36, Christ said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always ….”

The God who sits at the controls of the universe is a living, active God. The Bible reveals that He controls all power, energies and forces. Revelation 4 gives a spectacular description of God in His heavenly throne room. He sits on a magnificent throne overlooking a dazzling glassy sea that gleams like crystal. Surrounding Him on lesser thrones are 24 impressive spirit beings wearing crowns of gold who serve within God’s government. Around His throne are four more spirit beings of even greater office, power and brilliance. And at His right hand is the living Jesus Christ. Out from God’s throne proceed flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder—and angelic messengers going to and from Earth.

Do you know this God? Do you pray to this God? You should! Learning to do so will not only bring more blessings, spiritual focus and power into your life, it will open up a wonderful relationship with the most merciful, loving, all-wise Being in the universe!