Why Pray?

For the Christian, praying is like breathing. It is easier to do it than to not do it.

We pray for a variety of reasons. For one thing, prayer is a form of serving God and obeying Him.

We pray because God commands us to pray.

Prayer is exemplified for us by Christ and the early church.

If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we should also.

If He needed to pray to remain in the Father’s will, how much more do we need to pray?

Another reason to pray is that God intends prayer to be the means of obtaining His solutions in a number of situations. 

We pray in preparation for major decisions;

to overcome trials in life; to gain strength; to overcome temptation;

and to obtain the means of strengthening others spiritually.

We come to God with our specific requests, and we have God's promise that our prayers are not in vain, even if we do not receive specifically what we asked for.

He has promised that when we ask for things that are in accordance with His will, He will give us what we ask for.

(1 John 5:14-1514) "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." 

Sometimes He delays His answers according to His wisdom and for our benefit.

In these situations, we are to be diligent and persistent in prayer.

Prayer should not be seen as our means of getting God to do our will on earth, but rather as a means of getting God's will done on earth.

God’s wisdom far exceeds our own.

For situations in which we do not know God's will specifically, prayer is a means of discerning His will.

God has said that we often go without because we do not ask.

(James 4:2) "You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask."

In one sense, prayer is like sharing the gospel with people.

We do not know who will respond to the message of the gospel until we share it.

In the same way, we will never see the results of answered prayer unless we pray.

A lack of prayer demonstrates a lack of faith and a lack of trust in God’s Word.

We pray to demonstrate our faith in God, that He will do as He has promised in His Word and bless our lives abundantly more than we could ask or hope for.

Prayer is our primary means of seeing God work in others' lives.

Because it is our means of “plugging into” God's power, it is our means of defeating Satan and his army that we are powerless to overcome by ourselves.

In Luke 18:1-7, Jesus uses a parable to illustrate the importance of persevering in prayer.

He tells the story of a widow who came to an unjust judge seeking justice against her adversary.

Because of her persistence in prayer, the judge relented.

Jesus’ point is that if an unjust judge will grant the petition of someone who perseveres in a request for justice, how much more will the God who loves us, “his chosen ones”, answer our prayer when we keep praying?

The parable does not teach, as is mistakenly thought, that if we pray for something over and over, God is obligated to give it to us.

Rather, God promises to avenge His own, to vindicate them, right their wrongs, do them justice, and deliver them from their adversaries.

He does this because of His justice, His holiness, and His hatred of sin; in answering prayer, He keeps His promises and displays His power.

God will provide for our needs far more, since no request is an inconvenience to Him.

Here again, the promise is not that we will receive whatever we ask if we just keep asking.

God’s promise to His children is a promise to meet our needs, not our wants.

And He knows our needs better than we do. 

Passages in th Bible encourage us to pray and to keep praying.

There is nothing wrong with repeatedly asking for the same thing.

As long as what you are praying for is within the will of God, keep asking until God grants your request or removes the desire from your heart.

Sometimes God forces us to wait for an answer to our prayers in order to teach us patience and perseverance. Sometimes we ask for something when granting it is not yet in God's timing for our lives.

Sometimes we ask for something that is not God's will for us, and He says “no.”

Prayer is not only our presenting requests to God; it is God’s presenting His will to our hearts.

Keep on asking, keep on knocking, and keep on seeking until God grants your request or convinces you that your request is not His will for you.

Many people believe answered prayer is God granting a prayer request that is offered to Him.

If a prayer request is not granted, it is understood as an “unanswered” prayer.

However, this is an incorrect understanding of prayer.

God answers every prayer that is lifted to Him.

Sometimes God answers “no” or “wait.”

God only promises to grant our prayers when we ask according to His will.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of Him” .

Reason for unanswered prayer is lack of faith:

(James 1:6-7) “When you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord”

Hebrews 11:6 also identifies faith as a necessary condition for a relationship with God, something always mediated by prayer in the name of Christ: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Faith, then, is necessary for answered prayer.

What does it mean to pray according to God’s will?

Praying according to God’s will is praying for things that honor and glorify God and/or praying for what the Bible clearly reveals God’s will to be.

If we pray for something that is not honoring to God or not God’s will for our lives, God will not give what we ask for. How can we know what God’s will is?

God promises to give us wisdom when we ask for it. 

James 1:5 proclaims, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

The better we understand God’s Word, the better we will know what to pray for.

The better we know what to pray for, the more often God will answer “yes” to our requests.

How is prayer communicating with God? Prayer is our speaking from our hearts to our heavenly Father, and, in return, God’s speaking to us through His Word and guiding us by the leading of His Spirit.

According to the Bible, the power of prayer is, quite simply, the power of God, who hears and answers prayer. Consider the following: 

 1) The Lord God Almighty can do all things; there is nothing impossible for Him (Luke 1:37).

 2) The Lord God Almighty invites His people to pray to Him. Prayer to God should be made persistently, with thanksgiving, in faith, within the will of God, for the glory of God, and from a heart right with God.

 3) The Lord God Almighty hears the prayers of His children. He commands us to pray, and He promises to listen when we do. “In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears” (Psalm 18:6).

 4) The Lord God Almighty answers prayer. “I call on you, O God, for you will answer me” (Psalm 17:6). “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17).

The power of prayer comes from the omnipotent One who hears our prayers and answers them.

Prayer places us in contact with Almighty God, and we should expect almighty results, whether or not He chooses to grant our petitions or deny our requests.

Whatever the answer to our prayers, the God to whom we pray is the source of the power of prayer, and He can and will answer us, according to His perfect will and timing.

Scripture clearly teaches that prayers are answered. 

James 5:16 states that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

Jesus taught His disciples that “if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).

First John 3:22 echoes this truth, saying that we “receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”

We have His promise that the fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much (James 5:16-18).

May God glorify His name in our lives as we believe in Him enough to come to Him often in prayer.

AMEN.