Recently, I received an email with this question. “Why is it important to pray?”
Before I answered the question, I reminded the writer that praying is a two-way communication between God and His people. God speaks to us through His Word, through impressions, nature and people. We talk to God out loud or in our mind.
There are Many Reasons to Communicate with God.
1. To glorify God. Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13). The Father loves us and wants to bless us. We ask, He will do, and the Father will be glorified (get the credit).
2. To obey God’s command. “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We should talk to God thousands of times a day about everything. Big problems, small problems, quick prayers of thanksgiving, “help me” prayers or “help them” prayers.
3. Fellowship with God. “The prayers of the upright are His delight.” (Proverbs 15:8). Revelation 3:20 tells us that if we open our heart to Him, He will come into our hearts and have fellowship (we hang out with Him) with us. The Westminster catechism tells us the chief end of man to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. God loves for us to talk to Him.
4. We follow Christ’s example. There are so many references in the gospels of Jesus taking time to pray. (Luke 5:16) says, “But Jesus often slipped away to others places to be alone so that He could pray.” We are His followers and we too must make prayer a priority.
5. Prayer brings results. “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (James 5:16). I encourage you to take the time to think about the prayers that God has answered. And also, make a goal to pray more.
6. Prayer is vital to Christian maturity. We will not grow in our faith, if we do not spend time with God and His Word. We can go without food for a day or two without too much effect but then we begin to get weak. In the same we way, we will get weak in our spirit if we go without spending time with the Lord every day. Prayer and the Word are food for our souls.
Father, what a privilege it is to talk to You. How awesome to think that You actually love to hear our prayers. Help us to spend more time talking to you—about everything. Amen.
Some of the content was taken from “How to Pray”, by Dr. Bill Bright.
Photo Credit: Chris Ford
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