Why is Prayer Necessary?

Okay, I know by the title, this question might seem outrageous or even stupid. But, my question really is, why is prayer necessary?

God knows what's going to happen, when it's going to happen, why it's going to happen, and to whom it is going to happen long before it happens. So, if God has Person A dying on this day for a certain reason, would someone praying for that person's health really make God go "Oh, someone's praying, let me change My will, which has been long in motion, to suit their prayer"? I'm not trying to be funny, but it is a question that is really on my heart.

I know God knows our prayers without us speaking them or thinking them, but He wants to hear us come to Him of our own free will... but will/would it really change anything?

Does prayer change anything? I know I am sounding redundant at this point... but I seriously want to know. God knows what is going to happen. Regardless of our free will to make our own decisions, He KNOWS what decisions we will make, so He will know that we are going to choose to pray. But, He also knows what our ending will be.

So, is prayer like a story book where you choose how it ends? Like, you have the first page, and at the end it says, you can either choose to A, B, C, or D. If you picked A, go to this page; B, this page, etc.

And, if we pray, we go to a certain page?

And if we chose not to pray, we would go to a different page in God's book?

Okay. I don't know I am making any kind of sense... but, it's really been bothering me lately.

Great questions...will get back to you with my thoughts.

I was kind of thinking about this not too long ago.....I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on it as well!

I'm glad I'm not alone in this.

Yeah, this is definitely something I've always wondered about but never asked.

Today I had a very intense conversation with God asking about prayer.

After about 30 minutes... it was like... "this is what prayer is all about."

I hadn't even realized I was praying. I was simply just talking to God. I do that quite often. I talk to Him like I do a person sitting right in front of me. And I think that is a big part of what prayer is about: communication.

When you are friends with someone, how do you kindle the friendship and keep it going? You communicate. In this world, it's through text, facebook, going out together, etc. To gain trust with a person, you have to communicate with them first.

Prayer is our way of communicating with God. Through prayer, we are able to develop a relationship with God. And communication is a two way street. Communication is made of talking and listening. So, in communicating with God through prayer, we also have to sit back and listen. If in a friendship we did all the talking and none of the listening, the friendship would be strained. So, I feel it's the same thing with God. We talk, we listen: communication.

Through prayer we are able to form a relationship; we gain trust, we learn to confide in and love Him. Through prayer we are able to lean on Him when we need help and strength; when we want help and strength for others. In praying, it's not about changing His will for our sake, but it's about learning to trust Him. And when we pray we are talking, and God is listening. And when something happens that we have no clue how to deal with, since we have good communication with God, we are then able to sit back and let God talk, and we are able to listen. In going to God in prayer, He is able to comfort us, which is why we are then able to comfort other people who are suffering, because we can comfort them with the comfort of God.

I don't know if any of this made any kind of sense to anyone else, but it was a pretty eye opening thing for me. I am still a tad confused about a few aspects of prayer, and God in general. But we aren't meant to understand everything about God, because then that would put us on the same level as Him... which is way off. But, after talking to Him tonight, and actually listening, I have a greater peace about it all. I don't know if ya'll understood any of what I just said... but it made perfect sense in my head!

But all this being said, I would still really appreciate other peoples insight and opinions.

I think a lot of times we get prayer a little skewed. We as humans are selfish, sinful beings and we tend to look at things well, selfishly, especially when it comes to God’s Sovereignty and will. I think a lot of times we put God in our own little box. We try to constrain Him to our views and our notions. I think we do this a lot with the topic of prayer.

A few things about prayer:

1. We shouldn’t just pray to ask God for things. Prayer is more than us getting our needs met. That’s where the selfishness comes in. It’s not bad to ask the Lord for things, He delights in meeting our needs. He wants us to come before Him with our hearts desires, but so many times we ask God for things with selfish motives. We don’t have a kingdom focus in view. We ask according to our will and not His. Right prayer aligns our desires with God’s desires. We begin to want what He wants and so out of a heart of surrender we find ourselves asking the Lord for things in prayer that we know are things that He would desire. It has been said about prayer, “It is not to convince God to change His mind, but for Him to change our minds.” God shapes our wants and desires through prayer and conforms them to His will. (Matthew 26:36-44, Matthew 6:25-34, Romans 8:26-30, 1 John 5:14-15)

2. Prayer needs to be an act of worship. Pray as an act of worship not only recognizes God as Sovereign but recognizes God’s character. If we are making prayer an act of worship, we are essentially putting God in His rightful place in our lives. It is saying to God through prayer that He is our Lord and Master and worthy of our worship.

3.Prayer is part of building a relationship with our Creator. Prayer is a necessary part of our relationship with God. In our day to day relationships with people, we talk to them. Communication is how we get to know them better. Prayer is how we communicate with God. Faithful, consistent prayer is the key to building our relationship with Him. When we sin, we need to confess it before the Lord through prayer, confession and repentance restores our relationship with Him. It also recognizes us as the sinner and Him as Savior.

4.Prayer isn’t to be a ritual. Many people think that prayer is something that you have to bow your head and close your eyes for, etc. Though this helps some focus on the Lord with minimal distractions, it is not necessary. It’s also not always necessary to sit and pray for a set amount of time. Prayer needs to be like breathing. You don’t stop and think, ok I’m going to sit down and take a breath right now. No, you just take the breath. As we go throughout our day to day lives, our hearts cry should be prayer (Matthew 6: 1-15, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

5.We need to learn how to approach God boldly in faith. So many times, our prayers are for lack of a better term ‘wimpy’. We pray because we think it’s the right thing to do or we are feeling desperate. Prayer needs to be based in faith. We pray because we know that God is all powerful, just, loving and sovereign and that He has our best interest at heart. I have found that when I pray, if I start out acknowledging in my prayer that God, yes “you are my Maker, you hold me in your hands, you know my every thought, I trust you to do what is your will in my life and in the lives of those I’m lifting up to you”, it forces me to pray with God’s will in view. It puts me in my proper place as a feeble human sinner and Him in His proper place of not only an all powerful God but an intimate Father. (Mark 11:20-25, Luke 11:1-13)

6.Prayer is a ministry opportunity. When we pray for others, it offers encouragement and hope. It not only encourages us but it encourages others in their walk with the Lord or encourages them to walk with the Lord if they are not presently doing so. The apostle Paul throughout the epistles gives us a strong example of what it is minister to people through prayer. (Romans 1:9-17, Ephesians 1:15-23, Ephesians 3:14-21)

7.Prayer helps us keep our hearts and minds focused on truth and stand against temptation. (Philippians 4:6-7)

This little blurb just covers a small part of the topic of prayer but I hope it encourages you to study for yourself and devote yourself to prayer.

Those are also great thoughts you had Kerry!

Ahh, thanks Steph!

I think I have the most trouble with #5. But, I believe as humans we all at some point will be "wimpy" in prayer AND in faith.

But, I believe all of life is a work in progress. You will never be perfect, and there will be room for improvement in your life until the day you die. So, I am hoping I have loads of time to... improve!