Saved by grace. The Christian religion deals with people who are lacking in spiritual character and who live unholy lives. It aims to change them so that they can become holy in heart and righteous in life.

Prayer is the vehicle that enters and demonstrates its wonderful ability and fruit. Prayer drives one towards this specific end. In fact, without prayer, no change in moral character is ever possible. This marvelous change is brought to pass through earnest, persistent, faithful prayer.

Any assumed form of Christianity that does not cause this change in the hearts of people is a delusion and a farse. First, Jesus saw the crowds with their hunger and helpless condition; then he felt compassion that moved him to pray for the crowds.

Hard is the person, and far from being Christlike, who sees the multitudes but is unmoved at the sight of their sad state, their unhappiness, and their distress. He has no heart of prayer for others.

Compassion may not always move people, but it should always move towards others. And where it is most helpless to relieve the needs of others, it can at least pray earnestly to God for other people.

True prayer links itself to the will of God and runs in streams of compassion and intercession for all people.  So, one might ask, does God listen to a sinner’s prayer? The prayer of repentance is surely acceptable to God. He delights in hearing the cries of remorseful sinners.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus, Romans 3:23-24. But repentance involves not only sorrow for sin, but turning away from wrongdoing and learning to do good.

True repentance produces a change in character and behavior.