Difficult
Questions?
Question:
Why bother to pray?
I'm
told that God knows every word that I'm going to speak (Psalm
139:4), so what's the point of praying? What is prayer after all?
Answer:
Yes,
it is true that the Psalmist said that the Lord knew every word before
he spoke it, but that doesn't matter.
The
Bible also indicates that God knows the future and knew it from before
the foundation of the world (Ephesians
1:5 and Ephesians
1:11) but that again doesn't matter.
The
reality is that you have a need to pray.
Pray
out of a Relationship
If
we have a relationship with someone we talk to them.
If
we have a relationship with God, we will talk to Him. Prayer is
simply talking to God.
We
may request things, simply talk over things with God, plead on behalf
of others, or just give thanks (see 1
Timothy 2:1), but it is still just talking to God.
The
Bible and Prayer
Throughout
the Old Testament people prayed.
In
the New Testament Jesus prayed (Luke
3:21, 5:16,
6:12,
9:18,
9:28,
11:1,
22:41).
The
early church prayed (Acts
1:14, 1:24,
2:42
etc. etc.).
Jesus
also taught about prayer (Matthew
5:44, 6:6,7,9,
Mark
11:24,25, Luke
18:1)
The
apostles taught about prayer (e.g. 1
Timothy 2:1,2, Philippians
4:6,7, James
5:13,14)
Yes,
but what's it about?
So
yes, there is a lot about prayer in the Bible, but what is it all about?
Why
pray? Because, as we said above, we have a need to pray.
It doesn't matter if God knows everything you're going to say.
The
important thing is that you open your mouth and say it.
-
It may be you pray just because it seems the natural thing to do.
It
may be that in the act of praying you somehow draw closer to God, bringing
the material realm and spiritual realm closer.
Very
often it's when Christians are praying that they have ideas, pictures,
a sense of God's will and purpose that they didn't have before.
The
very act of praying seemed to take them into "God's presence"
that not praying didn't!
Perhaps
prayer is more for your benefit than God's!
For
additional information about the subject of prayer, click on either
of the following:
Difficult Question - Why pray God's will?
Prayer
Seminars - Contents
.............................
If
you wish to discuss this question further, or ask similar questions,
please feel free to e-mail
tony.thomas@rochfordcc.co.uk
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