The Why of Prayer
Pastor Jeffrey Smith
There are five big reasons why we pray.
Prayer is about:
1. Faith - Prayer builds faith and is what allows us to stay in the realm of faith. If we want an effective prayer life, then we must believe we have received what we are praying for.
2. Humility - We can't fix all of our problems. We have to run to God and learn how to collapse in the arms of God in prayer. We must come boldly before Him and say “God, I need you right now. I can't fix all of this. I need your help.”
3. Obedience - We develop character and maturity spiritually in our life. When we live a life of obedience, we do what God says because He says to do it. Dedicate a minute to praying each morning. Learn how to get in the presence of God out of obedience and you know what that's going to do? That's going to lead you to the next thing.
4. Communion - It’s talking to God and reading the word is having God talk to you. It is literally about community. It's about learning what the presence of God feels like. Communion is about learning what God is like. Learning His presence, His spirit, His attitude and getting His attitude over your attitude so that it changes your attitude and bends your will to His will.
5. The Kingdom - There is a power that comes through prayer that gives you a glimpse, a God glimpse of what His kingdom looks like and how to have the confidence to step out. If you live a powerless life spiritually, it's because you're not living in prayer. If you feel completely helpless to situations when you get in circumstances that you just don't know what to do, it’s like you’re a deer in the headlights. It's just because you're not a person of prayer. You can make a decision today to say “I’m going to be a person of prayer.”
Many times we judge prayer as a whole due to previous things that we've prayed in our life that did not come to pass. We write off aspects of prayer because we don’t understand why our prayers weren't answered. But our prayers are an incense to God. They are like a pleasing aroma to Him and they capture His attention, and not only are they an incense to God, but it pleases Him to hear you pray even if your prayers are not answered the way you think they should be answered.
