| Prayer |
Created Date: 5-Mar-2019 |
| What is Prayer and the Purpose of Prayer? |
Last updated: 11-May-2021 |
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Prayer at a very elementary level is understood to mean a request for God to do something. One fundamental question that most people have asked, is what is the purpose of prayer if God knows all things and we expect Him to already be taken care of us. These two assumptions are partially true as evidenced in many scriptures such as:
| Romans 8:28 | And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. |
| Matthew 6:8 | Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. |
We all need to remember that all of mankind, that includes Believers, are sinful and everyone can experience suffering for many reasons. The unsaved world does not realize that God does manage the Earth and so much more, where all of us are not appreciative of what God does routinely. Through our thoughts and actions, we prove that we take God for granted, along with not being grateful.
For the Believer, we will not be able to fully comprehend, appreciate, love and show gratitude for not only the Gift of Jesus Christ but also for what God has done for us in our mortal lives until we are in Eternity. This is partially what Revelation 1:7 is describing along with Revelation 21:4 description of wiping away every tear.
| Psalm 65:9 | You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. |
| Matthew 6:26 | Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? |
As we know from the Scriptures, before the foundations of the Earth, God planned the death of His Son Jesus Christ on a cross for the payment of our sins so that we could have a way for us to be reconciled with Him, along with so much more! The payment makes us justified when we ask Jesus Christ to be our Savior, but there is so much more happening to us and for us.
If someone has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, then in a high-level view, God is not necessarily protecting that person, stopping them from doing harm to themselves, and not necessarily going to answer their prayers other than the one prayer to ask for Salvation.
| John 3:16-21 | 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God. |
| Psalm 66:18 | If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. |
It is the opinion of many Biblical Scholars and this author, that Christians make Prayer to complicated and do not understand the purpose of prayer. We all know how to ask God for something, but Prayer is something richer and deeper. We should be in a prayerful state in our entire conscious life.
| Thessalonians 5:16-18 | 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. |
| Psalm 34:15 | The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry. |
| 1 John 5:14 | This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us |
| Daniel 9:18 | We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. |
| Psalm 5:3 | In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. |
| James 5:16 | The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. |
| 1 peter 5:7 | Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. |
| Psalm 34:4 | I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. |
There are Exclusions and Caveats to the power of prayer:
| James 4:3 | When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. |
| Matthew 6:7 | And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. |
Some of this author's favorite Biblical Teachers from many decades ago spoke about the mandatory aspect of prayer which requires us to be specific, so that God will be revealed in the outcome. There is of course times when prayer needs to be generalized for help, guidance and reassurance.
Praying specifically is very similar to how all of us would approach our earthly parents for needing something as children. In our working life, we approach our manager with specifics also. It doesn't help if we were to ask for help on homework from our parents but don't tell them the subject. It would be very unprofessional to ask a manager for help, but not give specifics. Our prayers should be on specifics also.
| Philippians 4:6-7 | 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. |
As an example, I have had many occasions that I was amazed on how accurate a prayer was answered and managed by God. My favorite example is needing a nice car that got great gas mileage because of long commute to job locations. At that time there was ever increasing prices on gasoline and diesel which was causing specific brands of cars that got great mileage per gallon to be in high demand.
I went to prayer and asked God to guide my choices on a specific car with very detailed attributes using a website's car purchase wizard. I selected the brand, model, exterior and interior colors, standard 6 speed transmission (not automatic), diesel, sun roof, tow package and high-end multi-media system. Note that standard transmissions and tow packages on cars are very rare in the location that I live, even to this day.
When I went to a dealer, I didn't tell him any specifics on a model that I was interested in test driving. The salesman said there only a few models left with a three month wait list. I asked to let me see what they had on site, and the salesman started to tell me that I will probably not be interested in them because of their specific's features, which in two of the models was a standard transmission. You are already probably jumping ahead of my story. One of the cars had exactly everything that was prayed for, and I got a discount of $2,500 because they wanted to sell the car that God had picked out. Note that I have driven rental cars in Scotland for many years, which were always standard transmissions, and I found that I loved the feel of standard driven car, where most Americans do not like standard driven cars.
The Priest said, "My prayers were answered."
| The following is an excerpt from the topic on
Law: In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus Christ told the Pharisees the summary of the entirety of the Old Testament Commandments, with two laws that encompasses all of the laws of the Old Testament. It is also confirmed in John 13:34 when Jesus Christ spoke of the "new commandment".
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What to read next?
What is Salvation? Is it possible to lose Salvation? We have eternal life. Evolution is not real. When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it. Rewards in heaven. Do we Tithe? What does the 3rd Commandment tell us? What is Grace and Mercy? Is there an Age of Accountability? Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?