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Why Do We Pray?
Matthew 6:8 Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask him.
Some may wonder what the point of praying is when God already knows what we need before we even ask Him. Why even bother? Why not just go about our day assuming God will take care of the things we need most? He is watching us at all times, after all. So why pray if He already knows?
Well, prayer is not intended to be a session where we approach God like a genie in a bottle and request things we’d like to manifest in our lives. It’s not even meant to be a modern sort of meditation where we center ourselves in God and find consolation in our daily stresses.
So what is prayer? And still, why do we do it?
Prayer is communication. Just like a friendship, marriage, or even a parent/child relationship needs healthy communication to thrive, so does your relationship with God. In fact, this is the most important relationship to foster and care for. It takes nurturing and devotion to maintain a healthy relationship with God. Not for His sake, but for our own sake. It takes time, intentionality, and deep communication.
Prayer isn’t about soliciting God for things we want. It’s a vital role in the health of our relationship with Him—and essentially, the health of our lives.
So why do it?
Well, because more than any other relationship in our lives … this is the most important. When things are right between us and God, things are much better throughout every area of our lives. If we’re taking time to cultivate our relationship with Him, then we are naturally going to be more kind to the stranger that cuts us off in the grocery line or the friend who keeps coming to us only when they need something. We’ll be more forgiving and loving when we draw near to God and nurture our relationship with Him. It’s inevitable. His love will fill us and change us more and more into His likeness.
So, the point of prayer (even though God already knows everything inside our hearts and minds even before we realize it), is to grow closer to our Lord each day and through that transform our entire lives from the inside out.
When we nurture our relationships with our family and friends we aren’t looking to gain something from it. We just love them and want to experience the best relationship possible. Anything we may naturally gain is a subconscious benefit.
This is exactly how and why we pray—because we want to experience the best relationship with God that we possibly can out of love for Him.
Do we gain something from this? Yes, of course. But the gain is never the motive. Love is always the motive. And that’s the beauty of prayer. Live Scripture Strong!