Part I: Why Do You Pray?

Why do you pray?
Part I

Can you answer that or does this question stump you?

I think awhile ago I would have been stumped by this question. My response might have been something like: “I pray because it helps me through difficult times, to remember that I am not alone, or in control.” In itself I don’t know that this response is incorrect or unreasonable, however there is much more to the reason we pray then just petition and consolation, I hope.

I will be responding to this question in a series of blog posts, otherwise I fear this post would be too long.

First of all, what is prayer?

Prayer is when we turn our heart and mind to God. When we address God and give Him praise, thanksgiving; we ask for help and ask for His mercy in our failings.

If you are reading this, then it is safe for me to assume that you agree that we are all on a journey, while we may be at different stages of our earthly and spiritual journey, the fact is we are all on a journey.

Now I take this a step further, we know God is the supreme creator of the whole universe, and we as human beings are His most prized creation, as we were made in His image and likeness. We also know that we were initially made to live with Him in paradise; because of sin we have been separated from Him.

Being separated from Him doesn’t change the fact that we are all physical and spiritual beings. We were made for heaven; we were made to live outside of time, therefore when we pray it’s like calling home.

Prayer essentially is a gift that God has given to us, even though we were forced to leave paradise because of sin, He invites us to call “home” often in order to connect with Him.

Christ is a prime example of this; He left paradise to come to Earth, and He took on a human body, while he walked among us his apostles found him rising early to pray; before he made any major decisions, he would pray, when he lost his cousin, John the Baptist, he wanted to go off to pray. If Christ, who would have been very close to His father needed to pray so often, how much more often to we need to pray?