Have you ever prayed and then heard silence? Do you feel that who or what you're praying to is real? If so, do you think you are being heard and that the entity cares? Would you like to answer the deep yearning in your heart so that, if there really is a higher power that cares for you, a close connection can be made between you?
I’ve experienced these uncertainties and longings.
As a young child, I had an inner sense that God is real and that He was somewhere up high, out there, in the sky. Whenever I had a problem and wanted help, I would sit below the window in my bedroom, gaze up at the stars, recite “Star Light, Star Bright”, and then tell God all of my feelings, questions, and requests. It felt good. I seem to remember receiving inner encouragement; but I must not have gained an assurance that God is real because years later, as a teen, I became an atheist.
Though I didn’t adhere to any particular teachings, I was unknowingly influenced by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism because my father, whom I looked up to, built much of his worldview upon her ideas which center around being the master of your own destiny and prioritizing personal happiness, achievements, and reason. The supremacy my father placed on nutrition, fitness, education, and having fun were bolstered by mainstream American ideals of a "fulfilling life". And, yet, a gnawing feeling that there must be something more kept me striving, leaving me emptier and lonelier.
People have an inherent drive to believe there is something bigger than themselves; and wanting to connect relationally with that being is only natural. Seeking guidance and help from God makes sense when you understand there are limits to your power and control over your life. The most important elements of life - like inner peace, soul satisfaction, and strong relationships - cannot be bought or earned. They can only be received or imparted from God.
Whatever you believe about God, there must be something significant about prayer because according to a 2020 Gallup Poll, 85% of Americans pray although more than half of the respondents seldom or never attend religious services of any kind.
Related: Does Prayer Really Work? (10 Secrets to Effective Prayer)
If you have joined the ranks of the billions of people worldwide that pray, the question must be asked, “to who or what are you praying?”
In this article, we will look at the gods of the five biggest world religions and how their followers engage in prayer. At the end, I will encourage you to put your god to the test to help you determine if you are directing your prayers to the One True God.
Full disclosure, I am no longer an atheist; I am now a Christian, and I have a deep heartfelt desire that you come to know Jesus who embodies all the love, peace, soul satisfaction, wisdom, and power you will ever need or want.
Though I believe there is only One God and only one way to heaven, I highly value your right to choose for yourself who (if anyone or anything) you will pray to, believe, or worship. This article seeks to respectfully compare the options within the world's top five religions. As you read on, lest you think as is common today, that all religions lead to God, I encourage you to consider how they can all lead to the same place when they all disagree on several key teachings.
Depending on who you talk with, you will hear that Hindus recognize there is one God, the “Absolute”, with many manifestations, or that there are many many gods and goddesses, each representing particular roles. On a practical level, in their ongoing pursuit to end their suffering, rather than directing their prayers to their main god (Brahma - the creator), Hindus choose the gods or manifestations they will pray to according to their specific wish, i.e., Krishna for love, compassion, and protection.
At the center of their beliefs is the principle of "truth" and how acquiring it allows them to become one with the Absolute, restore them to their original divine nature, and release them from suffering (caused by their past actions) by ending the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. They believe they must empty their minds in order to receive the truth because using one’s mind will taint or confuse their perception of truth.
[Listen to Deepa Sukumar tell her story about the gods she prayed to and how she came to know the Lord.]
Hindus typically have shrines in their homes that display statues and pictures of their most preferred deities. Before praying, they attempt to find favor in the eyes of their gods through rituals like reciting mantras, lighting candles, burning incense, and giving their gods flowers and fruit. They also try to gain approval through moral living and service (karma).
Even when you receive a revelation, perfect moral living cannot be achieved on human strength of character; therefore, having to gain approval as a condition of getting prayers answered will lead to disappointment and confusion.
What if Jesus is the Truth, is still alive today, and is the Prince of Peace who, because He loves you, wants to build an unconditional relationship with you whereby you can know your prayers are being heard and will be answered in your best interest, that all your wrongdoings are forgiven, and that God has a path for you that is full of goodness and hope?
Rather than believing in the concept of a god, Buddhists seek to gain insight and inspiration by thinking on the teachings of the philosophy’s founder (Siddhartha Gautama - “the Buddha”) in their journey of disciplining their minds and living ethically as they pursue an answer for why people are born and must endure suffering. They believe this is the path to ending their continuous cycle of life, death and rebirth and, in so doing, ending their suffering.
It is common for Buddhists to have shrines in their homes where they display a statue of the Buddha along with incense and flowers. Seated at the shrine, the act of performing prayers begins with mindfulness, achieved through deep breathing and repeating mantras. As explained by Buddhist teacher, Sogyal Rinpoche, the Buddha prayed that the power of his enlightenment would be that those who think of him, meditate on him, or chant his mantras would be purified and healed of suffering which, he taught, is caused by wrong thinking. They believe that Gautama and other buddhas (those who achieved enlightenment) come to them in spirit. The purpose of meditating or praying is to gain freedom from distractions or obstacles so they can receive wisdom.
[Listen to Alex tell his story of how he came to know God personally after learning about Jesus’ love and compassion.]
Wielding complete and perfect power over your mind continuously is unattainable on your own. While navigating through life’s losses, traumas, tragedies, and ailments, denying natural human emotions like sadness, fear, weariness, and shame, separates a person from their own fullness of mind, body, and spirit; and it hinders the development of close relationships with fellow humans.
What if Jesus is the source of power you need in order to have a transformed mind, the source of peace that enables you to walk uprightly through life’s difficulties, and the waymaker for bringing good out bad experiences?
Religiously devout Jews believe there is One God, “Yahweh”; and that He made a covenant with Abraham to establish a nation of his descendants (Deut. 14:2) for the purpose of showing Himself to the world (Isa. 49:6). They believe the Hebrew Scriptures, called the Tanakh, is a record of what God spoke to them. [The Tanakh has three sections: Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim. The Torah is the first five Books of the Scriptures (i.e., Exodus), the Nevi’im are the Books of the Prophets (i.e., Isaiah), and the Ketuvim is a group of assorted Holy Writings (i.e., Psalms).]
Many of their beliefs and practices are also held by Christians as they both consider the Tanakh (what Christians call the Old Testament) to be the Word of God. There are some varied beliefs between Jews and Christians, and for the purpose of this article, I will point out just one.
In addition to the Tanakh/Old Testament, Jews center their lives around the teachings of the Talmud, while Christians recognize that the New Testament is God’s Word. The Talmud is defined as the “oral law” given to Moses and a compilation of recorded legal debates and opinions of numerous rabbis about this law. The New Testament is an historical record of what Jesus said as well as letters to the early church written by several followers of Jesus.
[Listen to one woman tell her story of how reading the Nevi'im led her to Yeshua.]
Formal prayer, using a prayer book called the siddur, takes place three times daily: evening, morning, and afternoon. This ceremonial practice includes the Shema, which is an acknowledgment (from Deut. 6:4-9, Dt. 11:13-21, and Num. 15:37-41) of God’s Lordship and their commitment to follow His laws. It also includes the Amidah, which is an extensive set of “blessings” focused on praising God, making requests of Him, and thanking Him. [The Amidah, written by the Great Assembly, was established to take the place of the temple sacrifices after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were exiled by Babylonia.]
[Listen to one man tell his story of how he connected with God in prayer.]
Not only is the “oral law” (Talmud) not mentioned in the Torah, but the Torah states that the written Word is complete because Moses wrote down everything that God said (Ex. 24:3-4). It is also concerning that there are two versions of the Talmud, which contain some contradictions. It is troubling that the "oral law" and legal debates are followed more than the written Word of God because building one’s life on the commentaries of men pales when compared with the original record of the Scriptures.
[Listen to scientist, Dr. James Tour tell his story of how he found the freedom of forgiveness through the perfect sacrificial lamb.]
Will you give yourself the freedom to read the Tanakh on your own, giving voice to your inner questions or doubts and asking God to reveal Himself personally to you?
Muslims believe there is only one god, “Allah”, that Muhammad was his final prophet, and that Allah decides who will enter into Paradise according to the way followers live their lives; however, Allah can change his mind arbitrarily at Judgment Day, robbing Muslims of assurance that they will be saved from hell.
Islam’s religious texts include the Quran, several Books of the Old Testament (Torah and Psalms), the Gospel, and the Hadith (which tells many stories from Muhammad’s life). It is important to note that though they recognize Jesus and the Gospel, they consider Jesus a prophet rather than God, and believe that the Bible is corrupted hence they choose which parts of the Gospel to accept and reject. It is also important to know that the Quran is written only in Arabic and that most Muslims do not know Arabic.
Muslims perform salat which is a prayer ritual that takes place five times daily (dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and evening) whereby followers take part in ceremonial washings followed by scripted Arabic prayers while engaging in a set of three positions - standing, bowing, and prostrating. The rote prayers always begin and end with a profession of faith that there is only one god (Allah) and that Muhammad is his prophet. Additionally, Muslims can pray spontaneously at any other time of the day.
[Listen to Ahmed tell his story of what happened when he broke away from scripted prayers and asked from his heart for God to show him the truth.]
It saddens me to think of the two billion Muslims worldwide that live with uncertainty about what will happen to them when they die. It makes sense that there would be uneasiness because a person can never do enough good things to outweigh the bad; and Allah can simply choose arbitrarily to damn a follower to hell even if, on human standards, an exemplary life was lived.
If you could answer your doubts about the reliability of the Gospels, would you like to know what Jesus said about forgiveness, love, and eternal life?
Christians believe there is One God - Yahweh. As seen in the creation account and throughout the Bible, God is triune, three-in-one: Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:26, Ps. 33:6, Gen. 1:1-2, John 1:1, Col. 1:15-17). Out of His unconditional love for all people, God came in the flesh (Jesus) so that He could atone for the sins of everyone through His death on the cross. On the third day Jesus rose from the dead, defeating sin and death, and offering forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe.
The Bible, containing both the Old and New Testaments, is the religious text of Christianity. Devout Christians center their lives around fulfilling the Great Commandment to love God and people (Matt. 22:36-40), as well as the Great Commission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with everyone (Mark 16:15).
Related: Bible Recap 101: Your Essential Guide to the Bible's Core Storyline
Prayer is a conversation with God that is organic and personal, whereby Christ-followers transparently and vulnerably worship, thank, and express their requests to the Lord. Through prayer, believers receive a stronger sense of security in God’s power, holiness, forgiveness, unconditional love, and relational connectedness with Him by which they gain inner strength, comfort, wisdom, and encouragement (Phil. 4:6, Heb. 4:16, Ps. 143:8, Matt. 11:28-29).
Have you discovered the kind of relationship with God where you know you are forgiven, accepted, cherished, and secure in His unending love?
Related: How to Become a Christian in 2 Life-Saving Steps
[Note: Some religious groups have prayer practices that veer from Jesus’ teachings. For example, many Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary and to saints despite the instruction to pray only through Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5); and followers of the Word of Faith movement believe their words can bring about the fulfillment of their prayers if they have enough faith that they will receive specifically what they're asking for despite Jesus' example of laying down His own fleshly desires and submitting Himself to the will of the Father (Luke 22:42). Also, I caution you to be aware that there are some religious groups that either falsely purport themselves or appear as Christian.]
Related: 4 Sects Mistaken as Christian & How they're Unsound
With so many choices, how can you decide where to direct your prayers? Following this wise instruction from Scripture will help you: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).
So, if you are ready to determine once and for all if you praying to the One True God and that you are being heard, I encourage you to put your god to the test.
Pray, "Dear [Brahma, Buddha, Allah, Yahweh], if you are real, reveal yourself to me and show me that you hear and care about me."
Now, wait to see what happens.
I know the God whom I serve - the One True God (Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit) - will answer you if you seek Him with a heart and mind that is genuinely pursuing truth. If this is you, boldly ask Him to make Himself known by praying in your own words or by using this prayer:
Pray, “Dear God, I ask you to reveal yourself to me. If you are real and you care about me, I want to know you personally. I want to give you the worship you are due. I want you to guide me in your good and holy ways, and I want to live for you. Speak to the deepest parts of my soul, wash away all of my wrongdoings, and give me confidence that I am guaranteed to be with you in heaven when my time on earth is done. Show me that I am fully known and fully loved by you, God.”
God has given each person free will to decide who or what to worship and He will not force Himself on anyone. However, He desires that you come to know Him personally so you can receive His love, forgiveness, and everlasting communion with Him.
Keep on seeking until you have found the One True God. "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).