Reasons to Pray

When our Sunday morning services and classes are over, what do you think is the most common thought on our people’s minds? The word of God has been opened to us in a service or in a classroom, and what comes next? What are most people thinking about?

I’ve never seen an official survey, but I would guess that your experience is similar to mine, and the highest priority on your list once church is over is lunch. What’s for lunch? Where are we going? What are we having?

Many of you don’t even have to wait for church to end to start thinking about it. In fact, if you weren’t thinking about lunch already, you probably are now. Maybe you want some cheesy pizza, or a carne asada burrito, or some BBQ ribs, or a juicy hamburger, or a fresh chicken salad. If you don’t like any of those options, there is a seemingly endless list of other choices, not to mentions the possibilities of side dishes like french fries or mashed potatoes or grilled vegetables or rice and beans.

Why is food such a consuming element in our lives? Why does it demand so much of our attention? For one, we have an abundance of it, so we need to plan and make decisions. And number two, more significantly, we were designed to consume it. God gave you a physical body which requires and delights in food.

So, after enough time has passed, you will naturally begin to think about your next meal. It’s an endless cycle.

Well, I’ve doomed our attention span by talking about lunch, but I think I’ve also given you a helpful illustration to compare and contrast with the topic of our study today which comes to us from Paul’s command in 1 Thessalonians 5:17—Pray without ceasing.

In the Greek, Paul uses an adverb which could be translated as “unceasingly." It also comes first in the sentence, so a more literal and direct translation would be “unceasingly pray.” Put another way, Paul is saying to the church, “Don’t stop praying.” Don’t stop praying.

A simple definition for prayer is talking to God. God speaks to us today through His written word, and we speak to God through prayer. Prayer is the expression of our relationship to God.

Some understand Paul’s command to mean that prayer should be continuous; others take it to mean that prayer should be continual. Continuous means non-stop, uninterrupted, constant. One example of that would be gravity on earth; it’s a constant, ongoing reality; it’s always taking place.

Continual, on the other hand, also means that something happens on a regular basis, like going to sleep. Some of you might want to be able to sleep continuously, but that’s just not possible. Sleep is not a constant reality, but it is a recurring reality. It happens regularly.

So, which of those ideas did Paul intend to communicate? On the one hand, there is a sense in which prayer should be continuous, and that is when we’re talking about the attitude of prayer. We should always have in mind, not just God’s word, but the reality of His presence. Everything we do is before Him. That attitude of prayer should always be present.

On the other hand, if we’re talking about the action of prayer, like closing your eyes and speaking to God out loud, that cannot be constant. We can’t just go an entire day with our eyes closed, speaking to God. There are other things God calls us to do like serving others and staying silent.

Based on the way Paul uses this adverb in his other writings, I think the evidence leans toward the second idea, although, again, the first way, the attitude of prayer, is possible and necessary. We’re called to do everything to the glory of God.

Taken in that second sense, though, the action prayer is to be a normal and regular part of the life of a Christian and of a church. We don’t see it in the English translation, but the command here is given in the plural, so there is a corporate element to it.

Why is it that prayer doesn’t consume your life or my life the way food does? Why doesn’t prayer get the same level of attention?

Yes, we were designed to eat food, but even more so, we were designed to live in a relationship with God. We need Him and we are to delight in Him. So, why don’t we pray more often?

I’m sure there’s a variety of ways to answer that question for each of us, but one of the answers is that we ignore, minimize, or forget the reason, the motivation, and the benefits of prayer. So, what we are going to do today is remind ourselves of the reasons we pray. And in God’s mercy, it will help prod us in the right direction.

Last week, I gave you reasons to rejoice. This week, I’m going to give you reasons to pray. You need to take this to heart, not just for your own prayer life, but for teaching and encouraging others as well, like your children or grandchildren or a brother or sister in the faith. Why do we pray?

Similar to our study on joy, I limited my study to the New Testament, and here is some of the fruit of that work. For each reason, I’m going to state it from God’s perspective and from our own.

Number 1: We pray because in prayer, God is pleased. If you’re taking notes, you can just write, “God is Pleased.” That’s the heavenly side of prayer. The human side is that prayer is an expression of love. It’s an expression of love.

Turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. This is such a beautiful reminder, and I think it’s an important principle to start with because we don’t always remember it. Matthew chapter 6, verse 6. This is part of what we call The Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is giving instructions about prayer.

The wrong way to pray, Jesus says, is to turn it into a focus on us. That’s what the Pharisees did, and Jesus called them hypocrites because they wanted other people to see them praying. They prayed for themselves. But notice what Jesus says in Matthew 6:6—But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

If God rewards us, it’s because He is pleased with something. And it makes sense that God is pleasd when we evangelize or when we tell the truth even when it costs us, but what about prayer? Why does Jesus say God rewards us for praying in private? Why is God pleased with that?

God’s pleasure here is not found in the physical act of praying; it is because of the relational connection prayer expresses and enhances. God does not view prayer simply as a spiritual discipline for which we earn points; it’s a relational connection.

If you pray to the Allah of Islam, or to Buddha, or to the virgin Mary, God is not pleased with that because they are not the true God, the God of Scripture. There is no relational connection to God if you pray to someone else. God delights in the relationship not simply in the physical action of prayer.

My kids are in a summer reading program at the library, and every time they read a certain number of books, they qualify to get a prize. So, the library, supported by our taxes, is pleased in some way when my kids read a book. That pleasure, however, is simply connected to the physical activity. It’s a box that gets checked.

But contrast that to the please of grandfather when a precious little one climbs into his lap and says, “Grandpa, can I read you a story?” Grandpa takes pleasure in the reading of the book, not simply as a physical act, not simply because it checks a box, but because of the relational connection that’s being expressed and enhanced.

Prayer is relational, and that is why it pleases God. He wants us to talk to Him. He delights in our prayers.

Jump over to Acts chapter 10, if you want, and we’ll see the same principle applied to a specific man named Cornelius. Acts chapter 10, verse 4. Cornelius receives a vision from God, and a mighty angel appears. Acts 10:4 says—And [Cornelius] stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And [the angel] said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”

Down in verse 31, Cornelius repeats the angel’s message to Peter. “God remembers my prayers. He is pleased with them.”

Some of you know the worship song that says, “Take joy my King in what you hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.” That song is talking about our songs of worship, but the same thing applies to our prayers. Our prayers are an expression of our love for God, and He is pleased with them.

Can you imagine a woman saying, “I love that man, I just don’t like talking to him. In fact, I try to avoid it if I can.” Maybe some of you wives might say that, but clearly there’s a problem there.

How can we say we love God and then not make it a priority to talk to Him? God loves us and He receives our prayers with joy and satisfaction.

In Revelation 5 and Revelation 8, we have a picture of angelic beings in heaven holding a bowl of incense and the smoke is rising to God in worship. And it says that in the bowl are the prayers of the saints.

When you pray to God, it’s a form of worship, and God delights in it because He loves you and accepts you in the name of His Son Jesus Christ. You are His child.

Now, because God loves you, not only is He pleased with your prayers; He responds to them. And that is the second reason to pray. We pray because God is pleased, and we pray because God hears us. God hears us. From the earthly side, prayer is an expression of faith; it’s an expression of faith.

When you sit down at a restaurant, you don’t give your order to the person sitting across the table from you. You might tell them what you intend to order, or ask for their advice, but the order needs to be given to the waiter. He or she is the one who can make it happen.

The analogy breaks down eventually, but the point is simple, you talk to the person who can make something happen.

In Matthew 21:22, Jesus says to His disciples—Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.

Jesus was motivating His disciples to pray because God responds. Jesus wanted His disciples to pray with confidence in the power of God.

Now, clearly Christians pray for things that don’t happen. We might pray for healing or to be removed from a difficult circumstance, and it might not happen. Paul prayed three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed, but it didn’t go away. So, what did Jesus mean?

The answer has to be connected to the caveat Jesus gives, “if you have faith.” That doesn’t just mean that you believe God can do something or that He will do something. Faith means a surrender to and an alignment with the will of God.

We don’t know all the details of God’s will in this life, but we do know that God hears us, and He is acting in response to our prayers, even if He doesn’t give us exactly what we’re asking for or give it to us according to our timeline.

Even if your prayer isn’t perfectly aligned with God’s will, the Holy Spirit is interceding perfectly for you, according to Romans 8, and God is going to answer that prayer.

First John 3 says—Whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

To the degree that we are aligned with the righteousness and the will of God, God is going to give us what we ask for.

First John 5 says—And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

We pray because God is powerful, and He responds to our prayers. That was part of Jesus’ point in Luke 18 when He shared the story of a widow that kept begging the judge to act, and then he finally did. God will respond to our prayers.

In Luke 3:21 it says that after Jesus was baptized and while He was praying, the heavens were opened. That happened in a visible way at that time, but it also happens in a spiritual way every time you pray. The heavens are opened. You come before the throne of the Almighty King, and He hears you.

What good is it to pray if we don’t believe God is going to do anything about it? That would be meaningless. No, we pray in faith knowing that God hears, and He responds.

One of the most well-known passages in this regard is James 5:16—The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

There is a mystery here; I don’t want to ignore that. God is sovereign. He has all your days written in His book. He knows what you’re going to ask before you ask it. But don’t let that important theological fact keep you from praying. Who knows what God has not done because you have not asked Him?

Jesus didn’t let God’s sovereignty keep Him form prayer. Neither did Paul or the Apostles or the psalmists. They went to God because they had the faith that He would respond.

Charles Spurgeon, the famous English preacher, commenting on the mystery between human prayers and divine sovereignty, said this: “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of Omnipotence." Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of Omnipotence

You have to believe that, not just intellectually, but practically. You need to go to God in prayer by faith. He hears you, and He will act for your good and for His glory.

Number 3, we pray because God sustains us. God sustains us. in other words, prayer is an expression of our dependence. Dependence.

We talk to God because we love Him. we talk to God because we believe in Him. But we also talk to God because we need Him. We need Him.

I’m not sure I’ve heard this argument out loud for a while, but growing up I remember hearing people say that they rejected Christianity because they didn’t want a crutch in their life. They didn’t need God’s help to live their life.

Well, they may genuinely feel that way, but it doesn’t make their statement true. And for those of us who know Christ and know the truth of God’s word, we need to recognize that the analogy doesn’t go far enough. Christ is not a clutch; He is our life support. He is our oxygen. He is our beating heart. We depend on Him for everything.

Jesus upholds the universe by His power. In Him all things hold together.

Jesus told His disciples, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” Apart from the empowering and sustaining work of God, we are done.

Jesus, in living the perfect human life on behalf of His people did everything in complete connection to the Father and in dependence on the Holy Spirit. That’s how we are called to live. We desperately need God’s help.

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told His disciples to pray that they may not enter temptation. He said the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. If you and I truly understood and accepted that statement, we would be devoted to prayer.

To not go to God regularly, depending completely on Him, is an act of arrogance and pride, and we need to repent of it.

When Jesus gave His disciples a sample prayer, He included a prayer for daily food and for forgiveness, and for protection and deliverance from evil. Jesus wanted His disciples to be completely dependent on their heavenly Father, and that’s what prayer expresses.

Let me move on now to the fourth reason to pray. Number 4, we pray because God leads us. Prayer is us going to God for direction. We are seeking wisdom. From an earthly perspective, prayer is an expression of submission.

I am always so impressed and convicted when I read the Old Testament stories about David when He is in a battle, and he prays, “God do I go this way or that way?” He wanted God to guide Him in every decision He made. That’s godly humility.

The supreme example of that is our Lord Jesus Christ, and I think most of you know this. He goes before His heavenly Father in the garden of Gethsemane on the night He will be betrayed and arrested, and He says, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

And then again, a second time, He said, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Pray is not taking your grocery list to God so he can make your life more convenient. Prayer is an expression of your submission to His perfect plan. An essential element of pray is “Your will be done.” We are completely surrendered to the plan of God.

In Jesus’ sample prayer, the opening words are words of submission. God’s plan is the priority, not our plan. “Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done.”

James expresses the same heart of submission when He says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God.” He doesn’t say, “Just give it your best shot. Do whatever you think is best.” He says, “Go to God. Depend on Him and submit to His word.” True wisdom is found in the application of God’s word. We’re praying, “Lord give me Your truth and lead me.” That’s a heart of submission, and that’s what prayer expresses.

Lastly, the fifth reason to pray is because in prayer God unites us. God unites us. From an earthly perspective, prayer is an expression of our unity.

Again, going back to Jesus’ model prayer the first line is “Our Father.” He didn’t use the singular, “My father,” He used the plural. The sample prayer He gave them was a corporate prayer. And you see that again later in the prayer when it says, give us this day our daily bread.”

Prayer is an expression of our unity in Christ. In that regard, it’s the same as the other expressions of our faith. We gather to sing together and to hear from God’s word. Tonight we’ll gather to take the Lord’s Supper and enjoy a meal. These things are reminders of our unity, and prayer should be the same.

Even if you’re praying alone, you remember that your brothers and sisters are praying as well, and you can be praying for them.

Repeatedly in his letters, Paul talks about how he prays for the churches. He prays for the Romans, the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, the Thessalonians. He prays for Timothy and Philemon. He gives thanks for them. They are united in Christ eternally, and the practical expression of that is that Paul prays for them.

In Ephesians 6, we are told to pray at all times for all the saints.

James 5:16 specifically tells us to confess sins to one another and pray for one another.

Prayer is not intended to simply connect you with God. It connects us with one another as well.

Jesus demonstrated that also in His sample prayer because He said, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” And then He added, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Jesus made a connection between our relationship with God and our relationship with one another. If things aren’t right with our brothers and our sisters, then things are not right with our heavenly Father.

That’s why Jesus also said, “Go be reconciled to your brother before offering worship to God.” Relationships matter to God because God cares about His children.

In Mark 11, Jesus said this—Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Why does Jesus connect forgiveness to our prayers? Because He cares about our unity. You cannot go to God in acceptable worship if you have no done your part to make things right with a brother or a sister in Christ.

One final expression of this principle comes to us in First Peter, and this will be the last verse I bring up. First Peter 3:7. It says—Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Do not take warnings like this lightly. Men, if you are not showing your wife the love and the care and the appreciation and the respect God call you to give her, your prayer life is going to be hindered. If that bridge of unity is broken, then the bridge of your prayers will be broken as well. There is a connection between our prayers and our unity.

I know that all of us can be made to feel guilty about our own prayer lives. We can all grow in that area of our life, but I hope today’s reminders help motivate and challenge us to stay devoted to prayer.

We pray with love, knowing that God is pleased. We pray in faith, knowing that God hears us. We pray in dependence, knowing that God sustains us. We pray in submission, knowing that God leads us, and we pray in unity, knowing that God unites us.

So, what does it mean when we don’t pray? What are we communicating? That we don’t love God. That we don’t believe in God. That we don’t depend on God. That we don’t submit to God. And that we don’t care about God’s people.

May God forgive us when that’s the case, and may He grant us the grace to repent and help others as well.

May God move in our hearts so that prayer isn’t just a duty or a discipline, but, like a tasty meal, may we genuinely look forward to it regularly because we need it and because we delight in Him.