For the Christian, praying is supposed to be like breathing, easier to do than to not do. We pray for a variety of reasons. For one thing, prayer is a form of serving God (Luke 2:36-38) and obeying Him.
We pray because God commands us to pray (Philippians 4:6-7).
If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we should also.
Another reason to pray is that God intends prayer to be the means of obtaining His solutions in a number of situations.
We pray in preparation for major decisions (Luke 6:12-13)
We pray to overcome demonic barriers (Matthew 17:14-21)
We pray to gather workers for the spiritual harvest (Luke 10:2)
We pray to gain strength to overcome temptation (Matthew 26:41)
We pray to obtain the means of strengthening others spiritually (Ephesians 6:18-19).
We come to God with our specific requests, and we have God’s promise that our prayers are not in vain, even if we do not receive specifically what we asked for (Matthew 6:6; Romans 8:26-27).
He has promised that when we ask for things that are in accordance with His will, He will give us what we ask for (1 John 5:14-15).
Sometimes He delays His answers according to His wisdom and for our benefit. In these situations, we are to be diligent and persistent in prayer (Matthew 7:7; Luke 18:1-8).
Prayer should not be seen as our means of getting God to do our will on earth, but rather as a means of getting God’s will done on earth. God’s wisdom far exceeds our own.
Please note prayers un-prayed will be prayers unanswered !!
If the Syrian woman with the demon-influenced daughter had not prayed to Christ, her daughter would not have been made whole (Mark 7:26–30).
If the blind man outside Jericho had not called out to Christ, he would have remained blind (Luke 18:35–43).
A lack of prayer demonstrates a lack of faith and a lack of trust in God’s Word. We pray to demonstrate our faith in God, that He will do as He has promised in His Word and bless our lives abundantly more than we could ask or hope for (Ephesians 3:20).
Prayer is our means of “plugging into” God’s power, it is our means of defeating Satan and his army that we are powerless to overcome by ourselves.
Therefore, may God find us often before His throne, for we have a high priest in heaven who can identify with all that we go through (Hebrews 4:15-16).
We have His promise that the fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much (James 5:16-18). May God glorify His name in our lives as we believe in Him enough to come to Him often in prayer.
Shalom