Why Pray?

Most people who ask why pray do so because they are result oriented. When I was a young lad, I watched my grandmother pray night after night and often wondered why she would be so dedicated to pray.

I didn't know at the time we were classified as poor and nothing ever seemed to change when it came to money and stuff.

Nevertheless, she prayed and we learned to say our prayers at night and even to ask for stuff.

As I got older I realized she was not asking for stuff but mostly was praying for us; me and my cousins, my uncles and even my mother.

She was praying for jobs and for our health.

But the thing is…I never saw that anything happened. When I got old enough to study the bible for myself one of my first questions was why pray.

Here is what I found:

God wants to hear from His children on a regular basis…that’s one reason to have prayer as a high priority.

“I urge, then first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people. “(1 Timothy 2:1)

Prayer is how we establish our relationship with God…in prayer we worship, confess our sins, bring our requests to God, and wait listening for Him to speak.

This is where we nurture our personal relationship with Him.

This is where God changes our hearts and minds to be more like Him, and we grow to know His perfect will for our lives.

God hears our prayers and He acts on them. God is powerful and He takes our request and brings about real change in the world and in the lives of the people we pray for.

• “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7-8)

• “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matt 21;22)

Though we maybe at our wit’s end God brings His peace when we pray and the Scripture tells us to turn all our anxieties over to God who will give us peace of mind.

• “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 4:6-7)

Almighty God protects us when we pray…we have the Lord on our side! Jesus calls us to pray for God to protect us.

• “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matt. 6:13

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke21:36)

So why Pray?

• We pray because God commands it...
• We pray because God hears us when we pray…
• We pray because God helps us to develop our relationship with Him…
• We pray because God answers our request…
• We pray because God gives us stuff…
• We pray because God gives us His peace…
• We pray because God protects us…
• We pray because God cleanses us from sin…
• We pray because God restores our spiritual health…

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