Is there any point in praying? ‘Of course there is’ most will answer – and to doubt it would lead to calls of ‘heretic’ – at least in most evangelical and charismatic circles! But I am not so sure. Not sure in this sense – that the relevance of prayer, never mind its effectiveness in not unconditional. Hold on to that for a moment and we will come back to it.

Some years ago a revivalist from another culture visited a village on the Isle of Skye where I live. He whipped up the local christians to meet in the early hours of the morning for revival prayer meetings. Most of those attending went to work after these early morning vigils – while the revivalist returned to his bed. Eventually the man moved on with no visibly change having taken place. I remember asking a close christian friend and working man who had attended, what the meetings had done for him. He replied – “Made me very tired”. Continue Reading