It is easy to complicate prayer. Prayer is simply the place in which we communicate and commune with God. Yet, this relatively short definition has some rather profound implications, as E.M. Bounds picks out in his definition: “Prayer is simply…faith taking possession of its illimitable inheritance”.* Prayer is the centre point of the Christian life. Prayer is where we interact and dwell with the living, speaking, sovereign God, and where we participate in his work of bringing redemption to the earth.

It is difficult to overstate the power, beauty, and importance of prayer. Yet if we’re honest, deep down, most of us feel prayer is just a duty. Something that we ought to do more, but struggle to do in our busy lives. Then, when we finally do make space to pray, we find it far more challenging than anticipated. It can be boring, we get easily distracted, and we even struggle to know how to pray. The fact of the matter is that, despite our knowledge of the importance of prayer, many of us find prayer incredibly challenging.

So as we begin to think about how we may practice prayer, it is comforting to remember the words of St. Teresa of Avila that “when it comes to prayer we are all beginners”*. Prayer is the portal to life with God, the place we long for and where our desires are moulded to conform to the desires of God. As such, prayer is one of the most important places of our spiritual formation.