Thoughts on Prayer, Part 1: Why we do it

Prayer is such an interesting thing. It is something so vital to our spiritual life, yet it can easily become misunderstood or misused. Some believe that prayer is only for major requests—as if God only has time to listen if the request is large enough—and it is needless, or pointless, for any other occasion. Others use prayer as if it is a direct-to-order request line to God—as if they are simply writing a letter to Santa Claus. The only time they will talk to God is if they need something. Then there are those who treat prayer as if it is their status on Facebook, or their latest tweet: it is simply a moment to moment update on their lives to God—as if we are God’s CNN.

I’ve found myself thinking each of those ways at times. Yet, from what I read in the Bible, God is not too busy, nor is He so uninterested, that He refuses to listen to the smaller issues of our lives. Of course, God is not a vending machine either that we call on Him only when we are needy. Furthermore, God isn’t in need of a play-by-play report of our day—He knows what’s going on in our lives better that we do!

So I want to devote the next few blogs on prayer—why we do it, how we do it, what we should pray for, and things like that.

We will start with the most important of those questions: why do we pray? If we don’t understand why we pray, we most likely won’t pray and if we do pray without understanding why, we’ll approach prayer incorrectly (like the above situations).

I think the greatest reason for us to pray is because God listens to us when we do. Deuteronomy 4:7 says that God draws near to us when we pray. Like a parent kneeling down to better hear their child, God leans in to hear us better. God is so interested in what we have to say to Him that He comes down to our level to hear us! How amazing is that? We don’t have to beg or plead or even bribe our God to listen to our prayers, He actually wants to hear them already! God says “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you” (Jeremiah 29:12). In the very next verse, God also says that if we will seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him. He’s not trying to hide from us, but we also have to want to find Him. So we pray!

In addition, God hears our prayers regardless of where we are in life. We are told in Psalm 102:17 that God listens to the prayer of the destitute—those who have nothing and bring nothing to the table—and “does not despise their prayer.” I love that part. God does not groan when He looks down at the prayer caller ID and sees our name. God does not get frustrated when we call on His name frequently (actually He delights in that!). Our God is a God who loves to talk to His children. Our lack of resources, or abundance or troubles, do not make Him less likely to listen. So we pray!

If being willing to listen to us wasn’t already reason enough to talk to God in prayer, the Bible also says that God desires to answer our prayers and give us what we ask for (Luke 11:13). Like parents giving good gifts to their children, God desires to give us good things. This does not mean that every request is automatically granted—God’s not a genie in a bottle—but that God will not withhold from us those things we ask for that are good for us. John puts it this way: we can have confidence knowing that God hears and answers our prayers that are asked according to His will (1 John 5:14, 15). Of course, when we pray for something we also need to trust God. Prayer mingled with faith makes nothing impossible (Mark 11:22–24). Granted, God sometimes allows us to have things we pray for that are not good for us (like Israel’s request for a king), much like a parent will allow their children to “learn the hard way.” God also answers with “wait.” Sometimes God desires to give us what we ask for, and what we ask for is according to His will, but the timing is not right. So we have faith, pray, and wait—accepting whatever answer He gives.

Of course, one of my favorite passages of scripture on prayer which pulls this all together, is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” What an amazing promise! Prayer is meant to change us. It is meant to draw us closer to God. If we pray, He will hear. If we seek Him, He will forgive. If we repent, He will heal us.

This is what we can expect from prayer. This is why we pray. It is not meant to be simply a request line or an information network; it is our way to communicate with our God—the One who desires to listen to us and answer our prayers. Through prayer we can get to know our God more. And this is what we will learn about Him: He always has time to hear us, He’s always willing to listen, and He’s ready and willing to answer our prayers and bless us. Why would we not pray?