Why Pray

What is the purpose of prayer?
Isn’t God going to do what God wants to anyhow? 

Prayer is powerful and confusing, We and many other churches put a lot of emphasis on prayer. WHY? 

Prayer is important the Bible and Jesus himself has a lot to say about prayer.

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. - John 14:13-14

Jesus said I will do anything, but we have all prayed for situations where things did not work out the way we wanted. Why?

First, let me say everything is about God, not us

The purpose of prayer is not to get God to do our will. The purpose of prayer is to know God, so we can do His will. The purpose of prayer is to get to know Him intimately because He is an intimate and relational God. We serve Him, He is not here to serve us.

We need to understand that God is not a button to be pushed, but a relationship to be pursued. He is a relational God. He is love. He created us to love us and to be loved by us.

We never build our theology around one verse that we just pluck out of context. You never just pick one verse out of the Bible and say, “I am going to build my system of belief around a single verse." We must use the Bible to interpret the Bible.

Why did God not answer my prayer?

Broken Relationship

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.- Mark 11:25

 It seems to be that Jesus is implying that our relationship with other people might matter when we pray to God.

Scripture says that your relationship with other people impacts your relationship with God.

Motives

Another reason that God might not have answered your prayers is wrong motives. I think most of us have prayed some selfish prayers.

Jesus when faced with what he wanted and God’s will prayed,  

saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” - Luke 22:42

Faith

Even as a pastor and as a person who's walked with Jesus for a long time, there are moments when my faith is weaker than others.

Mark 9:23-24

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Your faith matters to God. Scripture says, 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. - Hebrews 11:6

The way that you're made right with God is by faith.

It's faith in a God you can't see. It's faith in a God you may not feel, it's faith. Faith honors God.

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” - Matthew 9:29

“According to your faith, may it be done unto you." Your faith matters so much to God.

"Your faith has healed you." - Mark 5:34

"Your faith has saved you." - Luke 7:50

Jesus said, "Do you believe that I can?" They said, "Yes, we do believe that You can."  - Matthew 9:28 

God has a different plan

One reason for prayers not being answered the way we want is simply because God has something different planned. 

God does not answer prayer according to our wisdom, according to what we want, or just according to our desires

1 John 5:14 says we need to ask according to His will.

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. - 2 Corinthians 12:9

Always trust God’s plans are best even when you do not understand His will. Our faith is in God alone whose ways are higher than our ways. 

Why in the world bother praying?

If it's so complicated, that you gotta have this right and that right and pray just right, and God appears like He's gonna do whatever He wants anyway. Why pray? 

We have to understand, that the purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what we want. The purpose of prayer is relational, it's to get to know God. It's to know Him intimately so that we can do His will.

Prayer reminds me all the time that I am not in control, and it keeps me close to the one who is.

God, isn't here to serve me, I'm here to serve Him. And the purpose of prayer isn't to get Him to do my little will.

The purpose of prayer is relational. It's for me to know Him and to know His will.

I always believe God can, and I always believe that God will. Even if He doesn't, the good news is, I still believe. I still believe with everything in me, with every fibre in my body, because my faith is not based on what I see, my faith is based on who God is. It's not in a what, it's always in a who. It's in the goodness, the glory, the nature of God.

Keep Praying

Because the ultimate purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what you want but to know Him and His goodness and be conformed to His will. So, when you pray, believe He can, believe He will, and if He doesn't, you still believe, because without faith, it is impossible to please God.

PRAYER

When we don't have words, hear the cries of our hearts, hear the sighs, hear the brokenness, hear our prayers through our tears God.

God, we thank You that You draw close to the brokenhearted. That when we draw near to You, You draw near to us.