Just like your parents here on earth, your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you and talk to you. When you pray, He listens. Then He answers your prayers in the form of thoughts, spiritual feelings, scripture, or even the actions of other people.

The scriptures teach, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). You can feel that love as you speak daily with Him through prayer, seeking His guidance in your life.

Praying and listening to the answers God gives you can help you better understand your purpose in life. God will help you understand why you are here and what you can do to return to live with Him after this life.

When you privately pray to God, you can work through serious decisions in your life. God always listens and often provides the specific answers and guidance we seek. Even when He chooses not to answer immediately or in the way we might have hoped, prayer itself is a way to find peace.

Jesus counseled His disciples, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Through prayer, we can overcome temptations to sin. Pray for God’s help to keep you from making wrong choices. This will give you the strength to do what is right.

The purpose of prayer is not necessarily to tell God how you want Him to do things. Rather, it’s to better understand Him and His ways, bringing yourself into alignment with His will. As C.S. Lewis is often attributed as saying, prayer “doesn’t change God. It changes me.”

Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights before He began His ministry on the earth. As He did this, He communed with His Father in Heaven in prayer. Likewise, if you pray and fast, you can feel closer to God and better understand the things He wants you to do.

Throughout the scriptures, we see many examples of the Lord working miracles as an answer to prayer. In Old Testament times, the prophet Daniel was thrown into a lions’ den because he refused to stop praying. When he prayed to God in the lions’ den, angels appeared and closed the mouths of the lions. Through daily prayer, you can also experience personal miracles such as healing, peace, and forgiveness for sins.

As you pray daily, you invite the Holy Spirit to be with you and to comfort and direct you. The Holy Spirit can give you answers, help you feel God’s love, and bring feelings of peace and joy into your heart.

Jesus set the perfect example of prayer. If you try to follow His example through prayer, you will become more like Him and develop a better relationship with Him and Heavenly Father.