I have asked this question many times in my walk with Christ. I mean if God knows what I need why do I have to ask Him for anything? If He created me the way the Bible says He knows all of my secret thoughts, then why do I have to pray to Him about what I am struggling with? Is it even necessary? What does it really do for the person who takes the time to pray? Are there any real changes taking place that will make a difference because I decided to speak with God about it? So many questions had me evaluating the real purpose of the regular practice of speaking to God in prayer.
To begin, I researched the word prayer not just in the Bible, but in the practical understanding of what prayer is. According to the web, prayer is a petition to God or an object of worship; a spiritual communication with God or an object of worship, as in supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or confession; an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. Prayer can be compared to communication with a close friend or loved one. Let me explain my thoughts before you object, I am not saying we prayer to these individuals, but we do build a deeper level of rapport with them. Much like praying to God, we communicate with them on a regular basis, we tell them things others do not have the privilege to know, and we are deliberate about our interactions with them. If this is true, then why do does prayer to God seem so complicated? Who doesn’t want to have a relationship with the creator of the universe?! I know I do! The experience alone seems like it would be the most phenomenal thing I could ever have in my life.
Prayer in the Bible seems to be progressive as the people of Israel begin to understand who God is. The first-time prayer is mentioned is in Genesis 4:26 after the children of Adam and Eve begin to produce their own children. The word says man called on the man of the Lord…what happened that made man call out to God? I wonder if they have the same experience we have when we begin to understand the truth of who God is. We call out to Him with a newfound joy that can only be explained as a desire that was met that you didn’t even know you had. Could this be why they begin to call out to Him, if so I can totally understand. Fast forwarding a bit to the new testament when the disciples ask Jesus how they should pray, Matthew 6:8-13. It lays out the foundation of how we should pray to God. First we recognize God for who He is, acknowledging that His will is more important than anything we are doing ourselves. We then ask for God provide us with what we need for today only, as we do not know what tomorrow will bring. Asking for forgiveness of our obligations to Him in the same way that we have forgiveness for those who owe us. The prayer is continued as we ask God to keep us from the things that will lead us away from Him set out by the evil one, can you say traps? The prayer is closed when we again acknowledge that God’s way is better than our own, His power, and His glory be manifested above our own desires and seal it with an Amen. From this foundation, I have started to seek God in prayer. Does my prayer always go this way, no it doesn’t, but this is how I started developing my prayer relationship with God. We each have to be willing to reach out to God in a way that makes Him the focus for prayer, not how others will perceive it. Each prayer we pray to God is a love note to Him full of our joy, pain, and desires as we walk on our individual journey of discovering Him.
Adding prayer to my life daily has significantly changed my relationship with God. There are 3 things I can say prayer has done for me:
- Create a new level of faith in God
- Confirm the word that God gave me
- Chase away doubt
When I pray God responds which makes me want to pray more. Just to clarify when I pray I am not always asking God for something, sometimes its just to let Him know I love Him. God responds in many ways regardless of the reason for my prayer. He has used people, a video, even a situation to revel that He is listening to me and confirms the words He has spoken to me. To know that the One who created you reaches back to let you know He cares is an unexplainable feeling! This feeling chases away the doubts that arise when I am not sure if God is there. Just like earthly relationships we need to know that God has our back. Praying back to God the things He revels to me reminds me of who He is (much like the foundation prayer), it helps me to stay on track because I know He cannot lie. Faith and doubt cannot live in the same place for too long one will eventually be stronger. So I have to either trust God or not, prayer is what helps me to do that. If you are reading this it is time for you to rethink your prayer life. God is waiting to hear from you!