June 2026 

What is prayer actually for? And what does prayer do?

This month, in response to Bishop Michael’s call to especial prayer, I will look at the Apostle Paul’s approach to these questions.

In a nutshell, the ultimate goal of prayer (and human existence), is to know God better!

In the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul teaches that when we pray regularly, we move from having an understanding of Jesus’s ministry and sacrifice, to knowing him intimately as father, friend, saviour and guide. Prayer turns God from a distant possibility into a shining, intimate reality in our lives.

Paul was writing from prison and it was so important to him that he maintained hope in the widening of God’s mission. This passage tells us that the deepening of our own personal discipleship contributes to mission. Our personal prayer life has the potential to shape us individually and collectively as a church fellowship to become a more Christ-centered community.

This is a heavy responsibility! Let’s pray that we will know God better day by day and that we can live in a way that is faithful to God’s Kingdom and witnesses to God’s goodness through acts of loving service.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

(Ephesians 1: 18-19.)

Blessings

Larissa