Praying for small things

Should we pray for small inconsequential things too or just for big things?

God wants us to pray for all things big and small and is offended if we don’t.  His powers are not limited by time or space and He can take care of everyone’s requests.

For example you lost your keys somewhere and can’t find them.  After looking for them everywhere and trying to figure out where they could be, you start getting desperate and think whether you should ask God to help you find them.

Since you are desperate and losing hope, you will have real earnestness in your prayer and God always listens to people when they are in need.

You will find your keys where you least expected them to be.

Who answers the distressed person when he calls upon Him?

Prayer vs medicine

Some people ask why use medicine when prayer heals.  First of all prayer heals a lot of spiritual ills.  Secondly God wants us to use the faculties and resources He has already provided us and then ask for His help.  If we are not using what He has already given us, it doesn’t make sense to ask for more.  He wants us to make the maximum effort we can and then ask Him to make those efforts fruitful and beneficial.

There is no conflict between prayer and science.  Science describes the facts we have discovered about this world.  Prayer goes beyond science.

Science is limited by our God given faculties and effort and time.  Prayer is limited by nothing, just like God Himself.

Does Prayer Change Anything?

Yes. But only if one truly believes in God.

First of all, it changes one’s outlook on life. One believes God to be the Creator and Sustainer of the world, and everything else and everyone else to be of no consequence. It gives one the courage and confidence to take bold actions and do the right things.

Secondly, even though nature follows the laws of nature created by God, only God has full knowledge of everything, and He arranges things in such a way as to help His creatures who are in trouble and seek His help.

Some prayers to God

O Lord, everything is Your servant. O Lord, protect me, help me, and have mercy on me.

Our Lord, grant us good in this world as well as good in the world to come, and protect us from the torment of the Fire. (2:202)

My Lord, make me constant in observing Prayer, and my children too. Our Lord! bestow Thy grace on me and accept my prayer. Our Lord! forgive me and my parents and the believers on the day when the reckoning will take place. (14:41-42)

Our Lord, do not punish us if we forget or fall into error, and our Lord, lay not on us a responsibility as Thou didst lay upon those before us. Our Lord, burden us not with what we have not the strength to bear; and efface our sins and grant us forgiveness and have mercy on us; Thou art our Master; so help us against the disbelieving people. (2:287)

The following prayer was said by Prophet Noah before embarking on the Ark. It can be used when traveling or driving.

In the name of Allah be its moving and its stopping. My Lord is assuredly Most Forgiving, Merciful. (11:42)

How should I pray to God

It says in the Holy Quran:

And to Allah alone belong all perfect attributes. So call on Him by these. (7:181)

This verse tells us the secret to getting our prayers readily accepted by God. While praying, we should invoke the Attributes of God that are directly related to the object of our prayer.

This will make our prayer more susceptible to acceptance, because, by so doing, we would excite the jealousy of God with respect to the relevant attribute of His, with the result that the prayer (if otherwise acceptable) will not be suffered to go in vain.