The Question we may hear: "If
God already knows everything before I even pray it, then is it really necessary
for me to spend time talking to Him about it?
Certainly His time is more valuable than that."
The first reason God wants us to pray is, He desires a relationship with us. Imagine that!
The God of this incredibly vast universe; the God who is present
everywhere at once, is all knowing, and is all powerful, really desires to have
a relationship with you, and He is most able to enjoy that relationship with us
when we pray. We can be assured of His
closeness when we pray. Imagine that as
you begin to speak to God, he leans over cupping his hand to his ear because he
desires to hear every word. He loves
you. He loves the sound of your voice. He isn’t so much worried about whether or not
you are expressing every word eloquently.
He just loves hearing you speak to him from your heart, a heart that is
bent toward a love relationship with Him.
When we pray, it’s as if we exhale the desires of our heart and inhale
the desires of the heart of God.
We don’t
decide to pray because there is nothing else we can think of to do. We pray because it’s the best thing we can
do. We don’t just have to stand there
wondering what we can do – we can pray something. When there is trouble, what is your first
thought, “Oh my goodness, what am I going to do?” or “Let’s just stop right now
and pray?”
A second reason we are to pray is that our Lord is ready to help us in our time of
need:
Hebrews 4:16 “Therefore let us approach the throne of grace
with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the
proper time.” HCSB
We may not
fully understand everything there is to know about prayer, but we can be
assured that if we are a child of God, we can go into His presence and make
requests of Him. In fact, He encourages
us to do so. God has made a way for us
to come to Him by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He has instructed us to come to Him and He
desires for us to come to Him. This word
for “boldness” in Hebrews 4:16 is sometimes translated “with full
confidence”. We don’t have to hope God
hears us when we pray. He is ready,
willing, and able to hear us when we pray.
He desires communion with you. He
wants to show you that He loves you. He
wants to spend time with you. And don’t
feel like you need to do all the talking either. As we read in Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”
Sometimes our prayer needs to just be praise to God for who
He is, thanksgiving for all that He has done in our life. Part of a vital prayer life is just enjoying
His presence.
A third reason
to pray is: It’s God’s will for us to pray.
Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:8 “Therefore I want the men in
every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument.”
In Luke
chapter 18, verse 1, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” ESV
From this
parable that Jesus told His disciples we learn that sometimes when we pray we
don’t get an answer right away but we are to persist in prayer. Keep praying!
Don’t stop! Don’t give up
easily! You may eventually get a
different answer from what you expected or wanted, but even this builds our
faith because we are assured that our Heavenly Father has heard and
responded. The point in this persistent
praying is not that we should strive to grab God’s attention; we already have
it. The point is to have the heart of
God; to align your heart with God’s heart.
That may take some time in prayer before you fully align with the heart
of God on a matter because when you begin you may have your own personal
desires in mind. Just keep on praying
until your heart is aligned with his heart.
A fourth reason to pray is to avoid sin. You’re really not likely to be able talk to
your Heavenly Father and sin at the same time.
In Matthew 26:41 Jesus told his disciples to “Stay awake and pray,
so that you won’t enter into temptation.” When we pray God give us strength
to overcome sin. Also, if we are tuned
into talking to God, our attention is on Him rather than on the temptations of
the world that so easily entangle us.
A fifth reason is “That your joy may be
made complete” John 16:24.
There is no more joyful place for us than in the presence of the
Lord. You may have thought to yourself
at times, “I wish I could just stay in the presence of the Lord all day.” The reality is that you can. God is always available. You can be walking into WalMart, driving down
the highway, sitting in the doctor’s office, getting your hair cut, washing the
car, cutting the lawn, folding the clothes, cooking dinner, washing the dishes,
playing ball with your kid, working at the office, etc and you can spend time
with God in prayer. When we approach
prayer that way, we have the promise from God’s word that “our joy will be made
complete.” On a scale of 1-10, how
joyful are you? If I asked those closest
to you, what would they say? Now, how
much time each day do you spend in prayer?
God’s Word is true. The more time
spent in prayer, the more complete joy we experience. You may be thinking, “Well, I have things to
do. I can’t just pray all day.” Really?
Let’s take a look at a short video clip about understanding that
everything we do throughout our day is really about God.
If we want our day to be everything God
intends it to be, we need to pray. God
will accomplish through us what we pray about.
Pray throughout the day with an expectancy that God will use you in the
lives of others. He certainly wants to,
so it’s a good practice to align your will with His will through prayer.
A final and very important reason to pray
is to confess known sins and have God
show us un-confessed sin. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God stands ready to forgive confessed
sin. He wants you to be cleansed. The goal is that you would be holy, as He is
holy. You can’t be an effective witness,
disciple, parent, boss, employee, son or daughter, husband or wife, brother or
sister, or servant of the Lord with un-confessed sin in your life.
If you feel
that your prayers are just hitting a wall sometimes, it could definitely be
un-confessed sin in your life. So,
another very important reason to pray is to confess known sin and have God show
you un-confessed sin.
So, let’s go
over the six reasons we should pray once again:
1. God desires a relationship with us
and that comes through prayer.
2. God is ready to help in our time of
need.
3. It is God’s will that we should pray.
4. Prayer helps us avoid sin.
5. Through prayer our joy is made
complete.
6. Through prayer we confess known sins
and ask God to show us un-confessed sin.
We are going
to get in groups of 3-4 people and spend some time praying with and for one another
as well as for the ones on our prayer list.
Before we do that, you may feel the need to come to the altar and pray
and confess something to the Lord or you may rather do it right where you
are. But if there is something you need
to confess, I encourage you to do it. Then
you will be more ready to pray.
Next week
our focus will be on how to pray effectively.
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