Prayer Point #2

Why pray?

"As for me, I will call upon God, and The Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud and The Lord shall save me" (Psalm 55:16-17).

Why should a person pray? Prayer is simply the means by which God has chosen to work in our lives and in the world today. It is the way that He has chosen to do business in our lives. When you want to do something with another person, you have to communicate with them. Prayer is communicating with God. God created man in order to have fellowship with him. What an amazing thought, that the Creator of the universe would want to share HIs heart with us and to have us commune with Him (a desire that should be the heartfelt cry of any child of God). This is the starting point, but beyond this there are effects that prayer works for us in our present circumstances.

1. Prayer is the way that we express our need for salvation to God and receive Jesus as the complete payment for our sins. "But what does it say? 'The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the Word of faith which we preach): That if you confess with your mouth The Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For 'whoever calls on the name of The Lord shall be saved'" (Romans 10:8-13).

2. Each believer faces spiritual warfare. In such a battle that is totally beyond your natural abilities, wouldn't you love to have the assurance of victory? Ephesians 6:10-20 describes our spiritual warfare and the armor with which we must equip ourselves in order to face the battles that we experience. To what battles am I referring? There is a spiritual component to all of the conflicts we face in this life: when your arguments with your spouse tear at your marriage; when your economic situation causes you to question the goodness of God. It is interesting to note that Paul sticks with his armor analogy until he gets to Verse 18. The reason for the change is that he is no longer speaking of the armor, but the battle itself. The battles that we face are won or lost on our knees.

3. Prayer is the way in which we receive mercy and grace in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Here the writer challenges us to come boldly before the throne of grace on the basis of the work that Jesus completed for us on the cross. This is an incredible thing to realize, that the access to God and His working in our lives is solely on the basis of His totally undeserved favor toward us because we are "in Christ". So, don't waste your time trying to earn it, simply receive it.

4. Prayer is the way that we can be free of anxiety in a world that is falling apart (Philippians 4:6-7). The way that we stay free of care is to cast all of our cares upon Him because He has loving care for us (1 Peter 5:7).

5. Prayer is the means that God has set forth for ministry in the world to be accomplished. Toward the end of his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul had a specific request of them: "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the Word of The Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2). Paul wanted the believers to pray so that the Word would be effective as he shared it. If anyone is wondering what they can pray for me, this would be at the top of my list.

This is not an exhaustive list of reasons to pray, but should be more than adequate to jump-start anyone's prayer life. If in your reading you come across others, feel free to post them here on this blog. God bless you as you grow closer to Jesus.

Pastor Chris