How does praying actual work?

It's a conversation between you and God. It doesn't have to be formulaic.

Usually when I pray I start off with saying the Our Father and the Hail Mary, probably because that was drilled into me as a child.
Then I usually ask God to look after my loved ones who are living, and then I ask him to take care of my loved ones who are dead, and then I thank him for the things I'm blessed with (my home, food, health etc.)

So those are when I'm sort of "properly" praying, but aside from that I informally talk to him fairly often. Have you ever watched Fiddler On The Roof? The main character, Tevye, just sort of chunters away during the day taking to God about all sorts of stuff. I do that.

But your conversations with God doesn't have to at all resemble my conversations with God.

Thanks. Do you feel it works?

If I'm feeling upset or anxious about something, after I've had a bit of a ramble to God I always feel more peaceful, so yes for me personally I find it beneficial. I feel less alone, as if someone is there for me to talk to about my worries.

It's like free therapy

Hi!
I find that praying for yourself and others is very beneficial . Prayer shouldn’t feel like a burden or chore, but a genuine communication with God from the heart
There isn’t a set way to pray essentially. Obviously there’s the formal way of being on your knees to show respect, but I find that throughout the day you can just talk to God as His spirit lives inside of us . There’s a verse that says how God doesn’t reside in a temple, but His spirit lives in us so we can communication with Him at all times
Praying for others such as friends, family, community , world etc is really useful in building others up
I find that prayer draws you closer to God and changes you from the inside out. You may not notice the change, but I find that you slowly start to shift if that makes sense
Hope that helps! Let me know if you need more info

How do we know if our prayers are working for others?

Do you have to pray for yourself? Does praying for others have any impact?

How much of a believer are you in a scale of 1-10?

* edit: sorry I just realised the question wasn’t for me! Hope it’s still useful *
I would say around a 7. It’s not great and I know I can do better
ive had recent slip ups due to some personal reasons that I’m still trying to work through that caused me to drift and want to run away from God, but I’m trying to re-build that foundation and re-establish my relationship with Him. Long story short,I was struggling to let go of a person I had attached so many of my feelings towards, and I had a tug of war inside knowing it wasn’t right but still wanting to keep going. It’s hard sometimes but the Christian journey wasn’t made to be easy. There’s a scripture that says the righteous fall, but each time they get up (psalm 34:19)
however, 2021 was my strongest point and that was going really well until I started sixth form and I struggled to adapt to the new changes and focus on my relationship with God as I had studies etc
That was quite a long answer lol, but hope it helps

Heeey, thanks for sharing!

Believe me, I've been through that. People have ups and downs in their faith throughout their life, I think. What is important is that after each difficulty, you can come out stronger and not fall into a deeper well than your last time. Long story short, during life's journey, the graphic of your faith can have ups and downs, but it must always be an ascending one.

It’s really true! Although it’s hard and sometimes you feel like giving up, I have to remember where I was before Christ and who He made me to be . Even though it’s been rough for a while I know that He will still bring me closer to Him. It’s like like saying taking a step back, and 2 forward is still one step toward

Do you have to pray for yourself? Does praying for others have any impact?