Why Pray?
13th January 2023
I was recently in a discussion group when somebody asked the question, "Can we change God's mind?" She talked about the time when a dear Christian brother was very ill and seemed likely to die. The church prayed together and the person recovered. I expect many of us can tell similar stories. It's true that the person concerned was ill before we prayed and recovered after we prayed, but did we change God's mind? The first response that came to my mind was this: Since God's mind is perfect, why would we want to change it? The second was: Who do we think we are? God doesn't need our advice:
Romans 11v33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
"Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?"
"Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Do we really think we know better than God? Prayer isn't a matter of persuading God that He's got it wrong and He should do things our way. Of course it isn't!
So why pray at all?
Firstly, we pray because the Bible tells us to
There are many scriptures that tell us to pray, including:
Ephesians 6v18
... pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and
requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all
the Lord's people.
In the Parable of the Persistent Widow,
Luke 18v1-5
... Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always
pray and not give up.
He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared
what people thought.
And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant
me justice against my adversary.'
"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't
fear God or care what people think,
yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so
that she won't eventually come and attack me!'"
Prayer changes things, but that's not because we've shown God how He's getting it wrong. It's because God has ordained prayer as part of the process by which He intervenes in the world.
I'm sure many parents have wanted to do something for their children, but have known that sometimes it's better to wait until the child asks.
Secondly, we pray because God answers our prayers
God doesn't do what we ask in prayer because we've persuaded Him of the errors of His judgements. He's not grateful to us for putting Him right. He's not guilted by us into doing the right thing. I hope that's obvious. God answers our prayers because He chooses to do so.
This doesn't mean that we've succeeded in changing God's mind. It means that God chooses to act after we've prayed. He could act before we pray, and He often does, but for our encouragement and for His glory, He often includes us in the process. Many times, He waits for us to pray and then He acts.
Thirdly, we pray because it's a wonderful privilege to talk to our heavenly Father.
It's a terrible thing to fall into the mistake of thinking prayer is a duty when it's really an amazing gift. Who would refuse an invitation to talk to his father? And God is the perfect Father.
God wants you to talk to Him about your joys and your sorrows, your blessings and your concerns, your questions and your hurts. And God wants to talk to you. Prayer is a two-way conversation. When in prayer, we don't need to be constantly speaking. If we will be quiet in His presence, God will communicate with us.
Fourthly, we pray because praying does us good
Prayer doesn't change God, but it does change us. Every time we pray, and stay in the place of prayer long enough to listen to God, we learn and we change. Consider passages such as Psalm 12, 60, 64 or 69, which are prayers set to music, in which the perspective and the mood of the writer changes as he prays, going from fear to confidence in God, from complaint to rejoicing.
Prayer is good for us. Much could be written about this but, for example, prayer is the antidote for anxiety:
Philippians 4v6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
And we learn when we pray:
Jeremiah 33v2-3
"This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and
established it — the Lord is his name:
'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you
do not know.'
When we begin to understand how perfect, how loving, how powerful and how wise God is, then we begin to understand the true value of prayer. When we come to God as "Our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6v9) we begin to experience what a beautiful thing it is to pray. When we use our prayer times to listen as well as to speak, we grow wise with the wisdom of God, we grow in assurance of His love, and our attitudes are gradually made more like our Father's.