No 3
(Why pray?)
This series on prayer will be in the
form of questions; they are fundamental but do, nonetheless, need answers. The first one is: WHY PRAY? The Bible gives us 5 reasons to pray: 1)
Prayer is commanded; 2) It is a sin not to pray; 3) Prayer gives glory to God;
4) Prayer aligns us with God’s plan; 5) Prayer gives us answers.
Prayer
is commanded. The
Bible does not suggest we pray; it orders us to pray – “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
Eph
It
is a sin not to pray. In the Old Testament at the end of the period
of the judges, the children of God wanted a king so that they would be like the
other nations. When Samuel answered them, he knew the importance of prayer “God forbid that I
should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you:” 1 Sam
Prayer gives glory to God. God cares that we have what we
need and He wants us to be blessed through our requests and He responds by
pouring out blessings to those who pray.
But the primary reason for all those blessings is to put God’s wisdom,
goodness, power and grace on display.
Prayer
aligns us with god’s will. There are times when we pray with the idea
that we can pull God into line with our plans but that’s not how prayer works.
We are to seek God’s will and purposes in our prayer; when we do that, we will
be aligned with His will. Jesus’ model
of prayer that we saw last week, taught us to get in harmony with God purposes
first and then our needs will follow.
Jesus prayed for Peter in Luke 22:32 “But
I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren” If Jesus,
who is the Second Person of the Trinity prayed for God’s plan to be realized,
can we do any less?
Prayer
gives