I prayed for my brother who was alcoholic, and he came back to God and the Church after 30 years away, just a month before his sudden accidental death.
Jesus Christ Son of the living God tells us to pray so I think we must accept what He says seriously. He taught the apostled what we call "The Lord’s Prayer.
Jesus teaches** “When you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too.”** [Mark 11:25]Jesus urges us to pray humbly, without ostentation,* “Go into your private room and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.” [Matthew 6:6]Jesus also desires community prayer, in addition to private prayer, for He says,* “if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.”** [Matthew 18:19-20]
Yet when one has prayed faithfully and zealously, with no apparent result—perhaps only deterioration—in the life of one’s self and loved ones’, then discouragement may follow. However, Scripture reminds us that,** “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; those whose spirit is crushed He will save. Many are the trials of the just person but from them all, the Lord will rescue him.”** [Psalm 33:2, 6]
“There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:6-7]
We must trust in God’s time *** “Everything will soon come to an end, so, to pray better, keep a calm and sober mind.”* [1Peter 4:7]** As God won’t force other’s will, it may take years of faithful prayers: “To You, a thousand years are a single day, a yesterday now over, an hour of the night.” [Psalm 90:4]
