Prayer
The idea of prayer can bring up many different thoughts and ideas for people. Depending on the way you were raised, you may have early childhood memories of a parent or grandparent praying with you or for you. At that moment as a child, it probably seemed weird, uncomfortable, and even boring, if you’re honest. You had to sit there being still, with your eyes closed, and stay quiet usually. Maybe, just maybe, your parent or grandparent asked what you wanted to pray for, to which you probably responded something like, “I don’t know,” or “I want to thank God for my favorite toy.” For others, thinking about their earliest thoughts of prayer may have been a scene from a movie like Meet the Parents. The character is asked to pray, and they have no clue what to do or say, so they quote the words from a song. Maybe even prayer for you was only something that was done at church or before a meal. Other than that, prayer was only for super spiritual people.
Passed Through Generations
I grew up in and around the church. I had an uncle who was the music pastor at the church we attended. Not only that, but my grandmother, whom we lovingly called Big Mom, loved Jesus more than anyone I’ve ever met. Big Mom was legally blind and couldn’t see for as long as I was alive. That didn’t stop her from being at church every week, but not only that, it didn’t stop her from carrying her Bible with her as well. She loved Jesus and longed to spend time with Him in any way that she could, and she wanted to make sure all of her family had that same love for Him. Not only would she talk to us about Jesus whenever she could, but she would pray with us and for us. She passed these values on to her own kids, who passed them on to us as well.
There was never a fear of saying the right things or doing it the right way because I was never led to believe there was a perfect way to pray. Prayer was simply a time for me to spend communicating with God. He loved me and longed to spend time with me, so what better way to do that than to pray? Although Big Mom carried her Bible with her to church and always had it next to her bed at night, she couldn’t pick it up and read it whenever she wanted. She had to rely on someone else to read it to her, and I think that’s why she believed so much in prayer. That was the best way for her to spend time with God, and she lived that out for us in a very tangible way. Just like Big Mom passed these things down to my mom and her sisters, as well as me and my cousins, I am able to pass on the same lessons to my kids.
Growing Faith
When I was younger in my life, and even more so in my faith, there were many parts I didn’t understand or probably even care much about in the moment. The older I became, and the more I learned about my faith, the more I also learned about life. I went through my share of struggles, as everyone does, but it was at these crossroads of life that I had the choice to dig deeper into what I believed by asking tough questions or choosing to turn away from my faith. Even that idea of my choice in the matter can begin to bring up tough questions about faith and even prayer, but I’ll try not to get too sidetracked here.
When it comes to faith, we try to teach these incredible ideas, such as God being omniscient and omnipotent, which are bigger words that mean God is all (omni) knowing (scient), and all-powerful (potent). Therefore, we believe that since God is the Creator of all things, knows all things, and has power over all things, there is nothing that goes on in the world that catches Him by surprise. Depending on your age in life when you began your faith journey, some of these concepts may seem more straightforward to grasp, but why?
As a child, we tend to believe things for face value. Our parents, grandparents, teachers, or leaders, who we trust and believe, taught us something, so it has to be true. Kids rarely question these ideas, just like they believe their dads are the strongest, bravest, and toughest people on the planet. Personally, while I’m flattered by that idea, I am fully aware that I am none of those things. On the flip side, adults who come to faith in Christ and begin their journey with more life experience and their own thoughts and ideas of who God is or isn’t. These ideas can be harder to overcome but can also be powerful tools in challenging them to dive deeper into their faith and what they believe. Throughout my time in ministry, I’ve had the privilege of walking people through some of these tough questions they wrestle with, and I’d like to share one of those with you. Maybe it’s even a question you’ve wrestled with yourself or are wrestling with right now.
If God is fully sovereign, all-knowing, and all-powerful, why do we need to pray?
For most, this may seem like a trivial question—of course, we need to pray. While that may be the correct response, knowing the reasons Scripture teaches us to pray is still important. Having these answers can not only help point those who may have these questions towards biblical answers, but it will also help those we may be discipling to have a better foundation for their faith. With this in mind, let’s take a look at what Scripture has to say.
Commanded to Pray
One of my favorite passages is Philippians 4:6-7. In these verses, Paul implores the reader not to be anxious. Instead, he points out that in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Paul doesn’t say to pray only when we’re stressed out; he says in everything, which means no matter what is going on in our lives, on our worst days or our very best times, we should pray.
In Ephesians 6, Paul writes about the importance of being strong in the Lord. As he draws this picture over the next few verses, he describes a knight putting on armor as they prepare for battle. Having all of their gear, weapons, and defenses allows them to withstand the enemy who attacks them. In the same way, Paul lays out the command to pray to remind us that we aren’t battling against a physical enemy but against spiritual forces of evil. Once we have the full armor on, ready for battle, he says, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. Again, we see the word all.
The call here isn’t just to pray when you want to or when it’s convenient; it’s a call to pray at all times. If King David could find time to pray throughout the watches of the night, I think we can find time to pray in our cars, walking to and from our workplaces, around our homes, through our neighborhoods, on the way to and from taking the kids to school, or any other place we find ourselves.
Perfect Example
If knowing that we’re commanded to pray isn’t enough, let me also point you to the fact that we have the perfect example of how to live out our lives. Jesus. It’s easy to simply think, “He was the Son of God. He didn’t have kids or other distractions to take up His time.” But the reality is that He gave us the perfect model to follow. Before He began His years of ministry, we see that He was led by the Spirit into the desert, where He fasted for forty days and nights. While Scripture doesn’t complicity state that He was spending time praying, the implication is that He was becoming in tune with the Spirit and, during His fasting, was spending time with the Father through prayer. Throughout His ministry as well, we see that Jesus would withdraw from the crowds and even the disciples to pray (Luke 5:16). Not only that, but we see Him praying before key moments of ministry like feeding the 5,000 (Luke 9:16) or raising Lazarus from the dead (Joh 11:41-42).
Not only did Jesus spend time in prayer during moments of ministry, but we also see that He found restoration in His spirit through prayer. Immediately following His baptism, we see that he was praying (Luke 3:21), and this is right before we see the heavens open up and God proclaim that He is pleased with His Son. Jesus knew how important prayer was, and He made sure to spend that time communicating with His Father. While many of the moments of prayer we see are short, we also see that Jesus spent hours in prayer seeking after God. Before choosing the twelve disciples, Luke 6:12 tells us that He spent the entire night in prayer, and on the night He was betrayed, arrested, and about to be crucified, He spent hours in the garden praying.
Wrapping It Up
In saying these things, I think we can come to the conclusion that even though we believe that God is sovereign, omniscient, and omnipotent, we still need to pray. Not because we need to change God’s mind about something, and definitely not because He’s the magical genie who is going to give us our hearts’ desires, but because we spent some time with Him. We spend time in prayer with Him because it’s one of the most intimate ways we can commune with Him. It’s how we can know Him better and be in His will for our lives (1 Thessalonians 5:17-19). It’s how we can lift up the needs of others and carry them before the Lord. And through it all, He can change and mold our hearts to be more like His (Matthew 6:10).
