Why Pray?
This is a big question, yet a simple question too.
"Big" in the sense that God is sovereign, that He knows all things, that His will shall be done, that He is not frustrated nor is He ever surprised. He is omnipotent; He doesn't need anything - from us nor anyone else.
So if God already knows all things, all the outcomes -- then why should we be praying? Does it really do any good? Are we going to change God's mind?
I believe there are several ways to answer - and more than discussed here, I am certain.
I stand on the sovereignty of God. If He is not sovereign over all, then He is not God. So in one sense I believe that He calls us to pray, not that we will change His mind -- but so, as C. S. Lewis is said to have argued -- but that we will be changed. Prayer doesn't change God, it changes us. In prayer we surrender to His will -- Jesus taught us "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" -- and we align our stubborn will with His perfect and good will. Trusting that all things will work together for our good and His glory. So, we are the ones changed - by our Creator and Lord - and it is us who need to be changed, not Him. He is perfect in all His ways. We are fallen and imperfect, limited in all our ways.
Also, I believe the Lord uses different means to accomplish, or carry out His will. And one means that He chooses to use is His people praying. There is obviously some mystery here. But He calls us to pray for one another, to seek Him, to cry out to Him in circumstances. And as He calls us to pray, and we're obedient, He works. We see His hand working, and we are granted the grace to know Him better and better; the grace to exult in Him. This is strengthening to the believer. We work, (for prayer can be laborious) and God gives the increase - ultimately -- thus, He gets all the glory and honor. We get to join Him, we get to experience Him.
A third response to "why should we pray?" would be this -- simply because God commands us to pray. His commands are not to be trifled with, but followed. Just as He commands us to "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," we should keep His command to "pray without ceasing." As my mother would say to me whenever I asked "Why?" after she told me to do something, "Because I said so!" That is all the reason I needed.
Finally, I think prayer is good for us. God knows that, thus like all His directions, it comes from a heart of perfect, infinite love for His children. He calls us to pray, to seek His face, to go to Him in times of trouble -- it does us good. He hears us, and He blesses us.
Let's pray.
"Big" in the sense that God is sovereign, that He knows all things, that His will shall be done, that He is not frustrated nor is He ever surprised. He is omnipotent; He doesn't need anything - from us nor anyone else.
So if God already knows all things, all the outcomes -- then why should we be praying? Does it really do any good? Are we going to change God's mind?
I believe there are several ways to answer - and more than discussed here, I am certain.
I stand on the sovereignty of God. If He is not sovereign over all, then He is not God. So in one sense I believe that He calls us to pray, not that we will change His mind -- but so, as C. S. Lewis is said to have argued -- but that we will be changed. Prayer doesn't change God, it changes us. In prayer we surrender to His will -- Jesus taught us "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" -- and we align our stubborn will with His perfect and good will. Trusting that all things will work together for our good and His glory. So, we are the ones changed - by our Creator and Lord - and it is us who need to be changed, not Him. He is perfect in all His ways. We are fallen and imperfect, limited in all our ways.
Also, I believe the Lord uses different means to accomplish, or carry out His will. And one means that He chooses to use is His people praying. There is obviously some mystery here. But He calls us to pray for one another, to seek Him, to cry out to Him in circumstances. And as He calls us to pray, and we're obedient, He works. We see His hand working, and we are granted the grace to know Him better and better; the grace to exult in Him. This is strengthening to the believer. We work, (for prayer can be laborious) and God gives the increase - ultimately -- thus, He gets all the glory and honor. We get to join Him, we get to experience Him.
A third response to "why should we pray?" would be this -- simply because God commands us to pray. His commands are not to be trifled with, but followed. Just as He commands us to "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," we should keep His command to "pray without ceasing." As my mother would say to me whenever I asked "Why?" after she told me to do something, "Because I said so!" That is all the reason I needed.
Finally, I think prayer is good for us. God knows that, thus like all His directions, it comes from a heart of perfect, infinite love for His children. He calls us to pray, to seek His face, to go to Him in times of trouble -- it does us good. He hears us, and He blesses us.
Let's pray.
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