WHY PRAY ANYWAY?

Are you a person who prays easily?  Do you talk to God about the little things in life?  Do you give God the opportunity to speak back to you from His word, His leaders and through your thoughts and spirit?  Is prayer an exersize in futility in your mind or an act of faith?

Many years back while I was thinking about God, I was asked by Him if I believed in prayer? I quickly said yes in response, after all what did He think I was doing at the time?  God then came back to me and inserted the thought that if I really believed in something then I would act on it often.  I was convicted at that very moment that my belief was quite undeveloped because I didn’t often pray.  I reserved prayer for the big stuff and the critical issues in my life.

This observation has affected the way I do everything related to God.  Do I really believe in Healing?  Then I should lay hands on the sick as God instructs and let God do His part of healing physical bodies.  Do I really believe in delivering people from oppression?  Then I should follow God’s directive and pray for people who submit to God that they would be free from Satan’s grip.  Do I really believe that God blesses the tithing believer?  Then I should give God 1/10th of all I have.

If you believe your going to fall out of the tree if you climb it then you should stay out of trees.  If you believe you are going to freeze if you go outside without a coat then you should take a coat.  Your belief causes you to act accordingly.  So now what do you believe about prayer?  I didn’t ask you what your head says about prayer but rather what do you act on when you think about prayer?

In our Foundation and also our Membership Classes at CFC we give sound biblical teaching on the subject of prayer.  There you learn that you can pray to all three members of the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) but never to any other living or dead individual no matter how highly regarded they are in history.  Prayer is reserved for God and no one else.  

Another truth that you will investigate is the reality of what prayer looks and sounds like.  Prayer is not some foreign language class you need to take.  It is simply opening your heart and speaking out of your mouth what you want God to hear.  Let’s listen to Jesus adjust the followers of his day.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.  

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’  (Matthew 6:5-14)

Jesus was trying to help them communicate with His Father not learn a new language.  He labored on this topic to get them to have normal regular dialogue with God the father so they could enjoy the benefits of real prayer and not religious hoopla.

And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written:  ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.    (Mark 11:17)

This verse tells us that the real church should have a reputation for talking and listening to God.  We should also be people who pray with strong faith in use, not wishful thinking.  Strong faith can only come by understanding what God says we can ask of Him and expect from Him.  This kind of knowledge comes by exposing yourself to what God has written in His word as His identified will.  When we are so armed we then can pray like this;

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.  (Mark 11:24-25)

Notice the need for forgiveness in prayer.  Keep the pipeline clean between you and God.  Don’t hold on to your sin, rather let it go.

If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened
and heard my voice in prayer.  Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!     (Psalms 66:18-20)

Do you really believe in prayer?  The only proof of that is when you believe God’s word and then open your thoughts and mouths to speak to God what’s on your mind.   Talking and listening to God is what prayer really is.

Why do we pray?  Even though He already knows what we need, he still instructs us to pray because it grows His relationship with us.