“Why pray?” A very simple
question. The Bible and practical Christian life lead us to many
answers. The foundational answer of why we pray is that we love God.
We talk to those we love. We communicate with them regularly,
actually, as often as possible. But the Bible and our own Spirit-led
experience tells us of many other valid reasons to pray. “Why pray?”
We Pray Because We Need God
God is our creator. God is our sustainer. God is our savior. God is our life. God is our all in all. Prayer is an obvious sign that we need God. Prayer is an obvious sign that we cannot get by on our own. We need His wisdom, His provision, His forgiveness, and His strength. We need Him spiritually, physically, and intellectually. Psalm 50:15, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” The more we realize our deep need of God, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we realize our deep need of God.
We must receive food to have strength, we
can only last for several weeks without food. We must receive water to
live, we can only last a matter of days without water. We must breathe
air to stay alive, we can last only a matter of minutes without air. We
must have God, without Him there is no life, John 14:6b, “I am the way, the
truth and the life.” Our prayer life leads to a deepened love of God when
we regularly express our need of Him. Pause & Ponder: How do you
use prayer to communicate your deep need of God in your life?
We Pray Because We Desire to Obey God
God commands us to pray. This is a very unmistakable reason to pray. This command to pray is closely related to the command to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Jesus Christ commands us to pray in Luke 18:1, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart”. The Apostle Paul communicated the continuous nature of this command to pray when he said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” There is no surer sign of your love of God than genuine obedience to God’s Word. I John 5:3a, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” We pray because we are commanded to pray. We obey this command because we love God. Pause & Ponder: How do you fulfill the command to pray without ceasing?
We Pray Because We Want to Follow Jesus’
Example
Jesus Christ is our model and our great example for leading a vibrant Christian life, and Jesus Christ prayed with great regularity. It should be our burning desire in every aspect of our Christian walk to follow the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is worthy of note that Jesus was always in unbroken communication with His Father in Heaven. Jesus prayed throughout the day: early, late, and continually. He prayed with others, He prayed alone. Jesus prayed in all types of circumstances. He prayed in times of thanksgiving, He prayed in times of crisis, He prayed in times of temptation. Matthew 14:23, “And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” Mark 1:35, “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” Luke 6:12, “Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”
Conclusion - The Love Link of Prayer is
Unmistakable
The great heroes of the faith were all
people of prayer. Daniel’s first response in time of life-threatening
crisis was to pray. In fact, Daniel requested from the King more time to
interpret a troubling dream so that he could pray. The extra time was
requested so that Daniel could gather his closest friends to pray. In
time of trouble, prayer was Daniel’s first response. In time of trouble,
how many times is prayer our last resort, rather than first our response?
It is often said, “if you want to get
something done, give the job to a busy person”. Likewise, busy saints are
the ones that bear much God honoring fruit in the Cause of Christ. Those
busy saints usually have a habit of loving prayer with their Father in
heaven. We read that Martin Luther spent three hours in prayer every
day. John Calvin and John Knox each prayed for two hours a
day. The mother of Charles and John Wesley, Susanna Wesley spent one hour
in prayer at the beginning of every day. The habit of prayer is a sure
sign of a vibrant, loving relationship with God. Susanna Wesley gave
birth to 19 children. As busy as her household was, all the children knew
not to interrupt their mother during her morning hour of prayer.
We all know present-day saints of God who
have a vibrant prayer life. It is also obvious that these same
present-day saints have a growing, vibrant love relationship with the
Lord. This love for God is the true motivator for service that never
fails and never wearies.
Do you desire a more vibrant prayer
life? If so, study these reasons for prayer and seek to fulfill the
biblical principal and model of prayer.