Answering your child’s questions: What’s the point of praying? Because God doesn’t change

We know that prayer matters, but if your home is anything like mine then the fast pace of busy family life often means it doesn’t get the time or the focus that you wish it did. With conflicting clubs and extracurricular activities routines are all over the place and bedtimes are not as consistent as they once were. Mealtimes are chaotic and often filled with others around the table too, and those special moments when you’re all together as a family are too few and far between.

These are some key moments when prayer used to feature more heavily in my home, and now that the seasons have changed so have the rhythms and routines which once worked for us. This leaves us fighting to prioritise the same values around prayer even if the practicalities need to look a little different. Change is difficult, and headspace to process the new seasons is even harder to come by, but for us mortals it is a process we have to get used to because change is inevitable.

Is God like us? Does he change?

God, however, is immutable. That doesn’t mean he’s silent (phew!) It means he is unchanging. In all of the changes and seasons of life God is the same. He doesn’t change his mind, his will, his character, or his promises. The same God who called Abraham, empowered Moses, forgave David, and fought for the Israelites is the same God that we get to pray to today. This is good news! Let me tell you why ……