Explanations
Why Pray?
Where to Pray?
Who Can Pray?
When to Pray?
Which Prayers?
How to Pray?

Each of the panel's links answers some of your questions but one question that needs no answer is:

"Is Prayer Necessary?"

I believe that there is a need for prayer like never before - within the family unit, the parish, the workplace and the wider world. Our world has gone off the rails a bit, our families are under constant attack from outside influences, our children are under outside pressures and influences and many of us have 'lost our way to God'. We have let our busy lives interfere with our relationship with God as a loving Father, a faithful friend and guide in all we do.

We have been conned into thinking we can manage our lives perfectly well without God. Or, I do my bit by going to church regularly. But just look around! How many are weighed down with anxieties over financial matters, marriage problems, rebellious children, work pressures? How many of us feel unloved, inadequate, have no self-esteem, have no inner peace? How many of us fear illness, loss, divorce, rejection, redundancy, bankruptcy? How many of us have made wrong decisions in life and feel we are in so deep there is no way out for us?

All of these are negative emotions that eat away at us day by day. A heart that's at peace with his or her creator has no room for the emotions mentioned above because bound up in that peace is the knowledge that God does indeed love us without exception or compromise, that our childlike trust in God never goes unrewarded, that God's shoulders are big enough to carry all our fears, anxieties and pressures of life, and that our sins, no matter how grave or serious, were taken from us when He gave us His Beloved Son to carry our sins to Calvary. All it takes is a conversion of our own hearts, the strength to admit we need God's help in our lives and the courage to cry out: "Lord, in Your Mercy, hear my prayer. I come before You sinful and sorrowful."

Prayer begets prayer and once the habit is formed in small baby steps at a time, we find that our conscious moments are focussed more and more on God in all we do and say. God becomes our guiding light, our beacon in times of darkness, our peace-giver and peace-maker, the rock upon which the foundation of our lives is built. He is the answer to our prayers, our fountain of love and friendship, our depth of confidence, our shield against danger, our armour against sin or wrong-doing. He is the oil on troubled waters of anger, hatred, despair, separation and division.

Prayer where 2 or more are gathered together in His name is most powerful! Let's do just that today and every day all over the world! Amen!