Why pray?

Prayer takes time - time that could be spent doing other activities. Often it takes effort, perseverance, maybe even courage to pray. Sometimes it seems pointless or frustrating. It can feel as though we're talking to the walls. Meanwhile, the people around us seem able to live their lives quite successfully without praying at all. So why should we pray?

I can think of many reasons. Prayer is God's way of allowing and enabling us to relate to him. Prayer acknowledges our dependence on him. Prayer brings us together with other Christians in fellowship. Jesus promises his presence amongst those who pray together.

Prayer is a form, perhaps the form, of spiritual warfare. In prayer, the Holy Spirit helps us by interceding for us in ways we're barely aware of (Rom 8.26). Prayer helps to keep us in line with God's will and in some mysterious way helps to bring about God's will on earth.

As Christians - followers of Christ Jesus - two of our most important reasons for praying come from Jesus himself. Jesus prayed, and he encouraged his disciples to pray. We are called to honour Jesus as Lord and to become more like him. Prayer is essential to both those callings.

Jesus prayed. Sometimes we're told the content of his prayers. At other times we're only told that he spent time in prayer - often many hours. His life seemed to follow a pattern of withdrawing from the world for a while to pray, followed by a time of activity. He prayed out of gratitude (Matt 11:25) and out of anguish (Matt 26:39). He prayed for himself and for his disciples. He prayed for us (John 17:20). To be like Jesus is to pray.

The Jews were a prayerful people, but something about the way Jesus prayed caused his disciples to beg him to teach them to pray. And he did teach them, both by word and by example. He told them to pray for those who abused and persecuted them (Matt 5:44). He told them to pray to God for more labourers for the harvest. (Matt 9:38) He taught them to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1). He said they should pray with humility, privately, with their eyes on God and not on others. He said they should pray in faith. To be a disciple is to learn to pray.