PRAYER IS THE EXERCISE OF FAITH
WHY PRAY?
“I feel better when I pray!”
“I feel better after I pray!”
“Somehow I am reassured when I pray.”
“Somehow, I know God hears me and He will do what is best!”
These statements are perhaps how we all feel when we pray, and maybe the answer to “why pray” is no more complicated than this, but let’s consider God for a moment. There is a God and His Name is “I AM.” I Am, gave us life. I Am gave us His Only Begotten Son. I Am gave us the Holy Spirit to indwell us. I Am gave us the Holy Bible. I Am is Awesome. We could end our study right here, but let’s go on together.
WE PRAY TO GOD BECAUSE OF WHO AND WHAT GOD IS.
PRAYER IS THE EXERCISE OF FAITH. PRAYER IS OBEDIENCE.
WHY DO WE PRAY IF GOD HAS ALREADY ORDAINED OUR LIVES AND HISTORY? WHEN WE ASK THIS QUESTION, AREN’T WE REALLY ASKING FOR RE-ENFORCEMENT OF OUR FAITH?
PERHAPS, WE NEED A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHO AND WHAT GOD IS. SO, WHERE DO WE GO FOR ANSWERS?
Please open the ‘Word of Truth’ (your very own Bible) to Romans 9:15:
“I will have Mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
“It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that (first reason) I might display my power in you and that (second reason) my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore, (understand this) God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden” (Romans 9:16-18).
QUESTIONING GOD OR QUESTIONING PRAYER?
Because God is Sovereign — “why do we pray?” In verse 19, in our context the same question is asked differently:
“One of you will say to me: Then why does God still blame us? For who resists His will?”
“But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the objects of His wrath – prepared for destruction?
What if He did this to make the riches of His Glory known to the objects of His Mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory – even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the gentiles?” (Romans 9:23,24). We were once the objects of God’s Wrath for disobedience, but are now the objects of God’s Mercy, because God has always had a Plan for Creation, especially for man. GOD PREDESTINED CREATION. GOD SAW FIT TO DO SO — THEREFORE GOD DID SO.
God did not and does not ask our opinion — to tell God our opinion or give Him advice is arrogant. Who are we to question God’s Sovereignty? We are nothing — we were enemies of God. But God did not make us to be losers, He made us to be winners through His Son — through the Cross.
God came to us. God Reconciled us to Himself. God is a Giver. He gives life, when he should give death. God had mercy on us, when He should have destroyed us. He came to us because we cannot approach him. Christ died for us because WE CANNOT DIE FOR OURSELVES. We are hopeless, but God gave us our only hope, Jesus Christ, to die for us, to take our penalty on Himself and pay it in full.
God has always had a Plan for you and me, therefore, this is why we Pray. WE PRAY BECAUSE WE UNDERSTAND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD! We pray because God loves us. We Pray because God hears us and is blessed because we honored Him by kneeling and seeking His Guidance.
WE PRAY BECAUSE:
God IS GOD.
GOD IS LORD!
We have problems – God has solutions.
We need God.
When we pray God is blessed.
God first Loved us – we love God.
God is our Father – we are His children.
Christ is our Savior, our Shepherd and our Redeemer.
The Holy Spirit is our comforter, companion and filler.
We are privileged in Christ; we have direct access to God who answers.
God commands us to pray – obedience.
Prayer is for our benefit – God’s Glory.
WE PRAY:
TO CONFIRM TRUTH.
To ask for help in time of need.
To communicate with God.
To seek His Wisdom, His provisions and His protection, because He cares.
To keep us humble and dependent on Him.
We pray to praise God; to honor God; to acknowledge God; to reverence God; to show respect for God’s Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence.
We believe in God as Lord and Savior. Prayer increases faith and dependability on God — Leaning on the everlasting arms.
God speaks to us in prayer by His Word in us.
WE PRAY BECAUSE WE ARE THANKFUL!
WE PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS, RESTORATION AND HEALING!
WE PRAY FOR MERCY!
WE PRAY FOR COMMUNION!
WE PRAY:
For assurance!
So God can speak to us through His Word – both Living and Written.
To know God’s Will and to ask God’s Will. We pray to witness the experience of God’s Will.
So God can prove Himself.
So we can see God in responsive action.
So we can see the Sovereignty of God.
So we remain dependent on God.
WE PRAY BECAUSE:
God has the answers!
God controls history!
God has a Plan!
So that God’s Name may be proclaimed throughout all the earth.
To keep us in submission — better to remain on bended knee than act independently of God (i.e. The Fall of Satan and the Fall of Man)!
GOD IS OMNISCIENT (all-knowing)
We are powerless to change things beyond our control — God is ALL POWERFUL (OMNIPOTENT).
We need God! God doesn’t need us!
We pray because: “God is able to keep us from falling and will present us before His Glorious Presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God and our Savior be Glory, Majesty, Power and Authority through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forever.”
We Pray because God has a Perfect Plan for us for time and for eternity. Therefore we pray for guidance. We pray because God is our sure and dependable anchor. We pray to take hold of hope and encouragement AND ETERNAL LIFE.
This listing is not exhaustive. The Scripture references for most of the stated reasons have been left off for the most part, to encourage you to search for them as a part of this study. You have a topical index at the end or the beginning of your “Study” Bible — use it to find Scripture.
“Search the Scripture for in them you believe you have eternal life” (John 5:39). Please research, meditate and add your own reasons for praying. Pray now and ask God to show you why He wants you to Pray. God will show you why, IF YOUR MOTIVE IS PURE.
GOD CREATED MAN FOR GOD’S GLORY. IT IS GOD’S GLORY TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS AND OUR POSITION IN SIN (ROMANS 5:8).
LIFE IS GOD’S PREROGATIVE!
We exist because God does. We owe God our life. Consider the following Scripture:
“Then God said, let US make man in OUR image, in our LIKENESS,” (Genesis 1:26).
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
“And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
“For God will carry out His sentence (His Will) with speed and finality.” (Romans 9:28)
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that (here is the reason) He may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).
“To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” ( 1 Peter 5:11)
“I Am the Alpha and the Omega” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelations 1:8)
God’s Plan for all creation for all time and for eternity is PERFECT BECAUSE GOD IS. GOD’S PLAN CENTERS ON HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. “BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED.” (Acts 16:31)
WE PRAY BECAUSE WE LOVE GOD!
Happy Studying!
Walk in fields of Grace with God. Walk in Scripture!