The Benefits of Prayer
The world is full of chaos and uncertainty. The good news is that there is simple way to calm the storm that each day brings. If you have a relationship with God, prayer can be a powerful way to keep your life in order.
Relieves Stress
There are many promises in the Bible that taking your troubles to God will help relieve the negative psychological effects associated with them. Many social scientists agree. A consistent prayer life is correlated with higher levels of calmness and lower levels of anger and aggression. Whether observers attribute those results to heightened self-awareness or actual divine intervention, the outcome seems to remain the same.
Fosters Acceptance
Many people like to believe they have a lot of control over what happens to them. They purchase alarm systems and insurance for their cars, homes and health. There is a certain freedom, however, in admitting that many of the things you try to keep yourself and your family from experiencing are mostly out of your control. Prayer releases that burden to the Lord.
Aids Decision-Making
Sometimes, if you have a difficult choice to make, it helps to talk it out with a trusted friend. What better friend is there to choose than God? Prayer can help you clarify the pros and cons of hard decisions so that you can be confident in how you ultimately handle the situation.
Prompts Action
Prayer can give you clarity not only to make good decisions but to act on them. Your daily petition serves as a built-in reminder of the plans you have made to put your faith into practice. Morning prayers can be especially motivating, setting the tone for how you choose to spend your day.
Whether you pray in the morning or the evening or several times throughout the day, you can reap many benefits from doing so. How or when you pray is not so important as long as you do it consistently.