Why Pray?

Why pray? Why not pray? Everyday we wake up facing the unknown. Will our day be free of fear or full of doubts and woes? Are you thankful to be alive for another day? We should pray not only to thank the Lord for blessings already given, but to ask for His future blessings. We need to also pray that His will be done, not ours. What about praying to ask His forgiveness of sins, praying for others, or asking for His guidance either for the day or for a particular situation?

Isn't it fantastic that when we have a personal relationship with the Lord, we don't need to go through anybody else to talk to Him? We can go straight to Him in all things! I realize that there are those that teach that we should go to or through a priest, minister, or someone else to talk to the Lord. John 14:6 says "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." I Timothy 2:5 reads "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Because of this, I believe I can go straight to Jesus Christ myself in prayer to confess my sins, to ask for His blessings, to give Him thanks, and for any other reason I need to talk to Him about.

The inevitable result of faith in a personal God is the desire to communicate with Him. To the Christian, whose God desires to share Himself, prayer is not a mysterious magic, but a personal, respectful communication. Paul advises in Philippians, "Be careful for nothing, but in every thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Whatever the other results, peace of mind is the product of prayer. Jesus taught that unlimited power is available trhough the prayers of those who believe that God is willing to answer. Yet He Himself, though asking God to prevent His crucifixion, concluded "nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done." God hears our prayers, but in His infinite wisdom does not always answer them as we prefer. And we should not limit ourselves to praying only when we want something. The Bible includes many prayers of confession, of thanks, and of pure praise to God.

God knows what we need before we ask. As with all prayers, we need to ask that His will be done, not ours. We should also include others in asking for God's blessings. What about those that are sick, homeless, in mourning, in debt, the soldiers overseas? We should put them first in our prayers. The Lord's Prayer, which is located in both Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4, is Jesus Christ's very own guideline as to how we should pray.

Romans 8:26 - "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

I Corinthians 14:15 - "What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also."

I Thessalonians 5:17 - "Pray without ceasing."