Why do we need to pray as a Christian?

[redeemed4life]

Hello there,

The spiritual disciplines have often been a daily struggle for me as I grow and mature as a Christian in my walk with God. But, I find that prayer is one of the hardest spiritual disciplines to do each day because I often wonder why I even do it, if God has His sovereign will and will choose to do what He wants. Sometimes I wonder why I pray that God would heal this person, bring the message of Jesus into someone's life, or help a friend struggling with faith. God knows my heart and what I am thinking at the moment, so why do I have to announce it to Him through prayer if He already knows what I'm going to say? Why do I pray prayers of God healing someone, God bringing the message to a non-Christian friend, or God helping a friend persevere in their faith, if God already has chosen what He will do. How do my prayers affect or change the mind of God? They don't. I cannot make God do anything, and as far as I'm concerned His mind is already made up.

So, what is the point of prayer? What is about the spiritual discipline of prayer that makes it beneficial and something we continue to do as children of God.

 

[Thiscrosshurts]

Sometimes I wonder why I pray that God would heal this person, bring the message of Jesus into someone's life, or help a friend struggling with faith.

Maybe because you care about them and it doesn't seem to be taking place on it's own.

I know because I was dragged into the kingdom kicking and screaming by the prayer of faithful believers who refused to mind their own business and let darkness chew away at my depraved brain.

Prayer changes things so it is work,you are forcing your mind to conform to seeing things Gods way and enforcing his will through the authority given to us in Christ.

God has His sovereign will and will choose to do what He wants

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
In the "Our Father" prayer we see that his will is done in heaven and we are enforcing it in the earth.
The "Our Father"prayer shows the reason and structure in prayer.
He already did what he wants in heaven and he wants to do it through us on the earth.

When I started out I could only pray for about 3 minutes and I would be ready to nod off.
I found that strange though because I could read and contemplate scriptures for hours.
A preacher told me that reading scriptures out loud was a form of prayer and that's exactly what I did and it put me right to sleep.
That's when I knew it was important so I fought for every minute until I found it flowing out of my mouth like rivers of living water.

Matthew 21:22 Jesus said “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Then again in Mark 11:24, we see “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Proverbs 18:20-21 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

John 14:14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

There are many more reasons to pray such as, faith comes through hearing.
You trust your own voice so it's good to hear yourself repeating scriptures or standing on the promises of God.


James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind

I the US we have rights but that won't stop the government from from abusing them.
Here if you don't constantly enforce those rights then you don't have any.

 

[Kakeb]

Thiscrosshurts pretty much hit the nail on the head, IMO.
Anywho.
What I have to add is, God speaks to me the most through praying over scriptures...such as...like after the recent elections, I felt pulled down to my knees in prayer (which, is a strange/crazy feeling if you ever experience it) and I said something like, "Lord, I know you are in control. Of everything. And although we cannot understand or we do not know what will happen or what exactly this election means or what the next 4 years hold, it says in your Word that many are the plans in a man's heart but it is the Lord's purpose, God, it is Your purpose that prevails.[Prov. 19:21]" I pray similar things a lot, that's just an example. I feel when I pray God speaks to me. Sometimes praying can just be silent. Just sitting there, before God. and it totally feels weird at times. yes. But I have been brought to tears by images I get in my head during a "silent prayer."
I was sitting there one time, I was having a really rough week/month, people I loved had died, and basically, everything seemed to be going against me. I sat in bed sobbing and just pouring my heart out to God and I got this picture of me, lying curled up, crying, in the hands of God.
Not everyone has those images, because God speaks to different people in different ways.

The more I pray, the closer I am to God, reading the Bible tells me about him, but worshipping and praying to Him bring me closer.

Let's say I read every biography on Julie Andrews. I'm going to know a lot about her. I would know when she was born, her beliefs, how her career started.
But unless I spoke with her, communicated with her, I would not know her personally, there would be no relationship.

That's how I look at a relationship with God. Reading the Bible is very, very, very important. But prayer is what really draws you into a relationship.