Why do we pray? Seven reasons

20 April 2015

I’m the sort of person that likes to know why I am doing what I’m doing or why I should do something. Motivation matters to me. So does understanding the power and possibilities of the activity I’m engaged in. So what does the Bible say about why we should pray?

because we have a father in heaven

When Jesus taught us how to pray (Mt 6:9), that’s where we begin – with God as our Father. Through faith in Christ, we have been adopted into the family of God (Rom 8:15). We pray because we have a Father who hears us.

so that we wouldn’t be tempted

‘Lead us not into temptation.’ It should be a daily habit to pray the Lord’s prayer, temptation too often leads to sin. If I want to sin less then what could be more apt than to ask the Lord to lead me away from temptation. At the hour of his betrayal Jesus told his disciples to pray so that they would not fall into temptation (Mt 26:41) and Paul took note when he told the church in Corinth he ‘prays that they would not do anything wrong’ (2 Cor 13:7).

that we might be forgiven

Maybe I’ve forgotten the prayer above and walked straight smack into sin. Willfully, rebelliously, sinfully. Too many people feel that at such a time they cannot pray for they are not good enough to pray. This forgets that we have never been good enough to pray, yet God gives us prayer because we are sinful, so that we find forgiveness (Acts 8:22; James 5:16; 1 Jn 5:16).

that we might know god’s will

Paul prayed for the church in Colosse that God would ‘fill them with the knowledge of His will’ (Col 1:9). The Spirit leads us into truth and as we pray, God works and shapes our hearts, bending and moulding our appetites and desires, conforming us to His likeness. As we commit ourselves to pray we begin to say with Jesus, that we do the Father’s will.

that the gospel would spread

This is, of course, God’s will that all people would come to know the truth (1 Tim 2:4) and we should pray for this – fervently, regularly, faithfully. There is a world that is perishing and we should pray for God to open the way for us to share the good news. Paul in his letter to Philemon told him that he prayed that he would be active in sharing his faith (Philemon 1:6). We should pray that too (Col 4:3; 2 Thess 3:1; Rom 10:1).

that we might do good with our lives

We were created to do good works (Eph 2:10) and the Bible teaches us that we should pray to this end. Paul told the church at Thessalonica that he prayed God would ‘fulfil every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith’. Hebrews asks for prayer to ‘live honourably and with a clear conscience’ (Heb 13:18). Jesus said we should live in such a way that ‘people see our good deeds and praise God’ (Mt 5:16), praying for that to be the case, sounds wise.

that the sick would be healed

Praying for healing is oddly controversial for some Christians, but simple obedience to James 5:14 is that if someone is sick at the very least, church elders should pray for healing. Peter and the church prayed that God would heal (Acts 4:30), it seems like special pleading to stop doing that. To pray for healing is a loving, hopeful and faith act that need not be separated from seeing physicians and doctors.