Why Do We Pray?

Introduction

Isaiah 56:7 KJV 1900

7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, And make them joyful in my house of prayer: Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Matthew 21:13 KJV 1900

13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Body

We’ve all heard stories of the miraculous, the powerful, the awesome power of God being manifested in someone’s situation

Miraculous healings

People being raised from the dead

Limbs growing back before people’s eyes

Miraculous protection from harm

Miraculous deliverance from impossible situations

We’ve also heard of, and perhaps experienced, situations when the only answer one received from God was … silence.

People went on suffering, or even died

People stayed dead

Limbs stayed missing

People were seriously hurt, or even killed

People were imprisoned, tortured, even executed

In my search for answers to these types of questions, I always keep some unbreakable rules in front of me

There is an answer. God has it and I don’t

Scripture is inerrant, I’m not

God knows my heart, I don’t

God loves me. He wants the very best for me and knows what that is at any given time, I don’t

I may never know the answer to this question, but I can always trust God

Why do we pray?

What is prayer, at its essence?

History of prayer (or, the history of man’s fellowship with God)

Before the fall - Adam and Eve walked with God and communed with Him

After the fall - Fellowship with God was broken and needed to be restored

Sin broke fellowship with God

God instituted the sacrificial system in order to atone for sin, thus making fellowship possible

Enoch - men began to call on the Name of the Lord

Mosaic Law - Altar of Incense lit from the fire from off the Altar of Sacrifice

Solomon’s Temple - God’s promise to answer prayers made in or towards this temple

New Testament

Matthew 21:22 “22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

What if I want a brand new Ferrari?

What if I want to be rich?

What if I want deliverance from a trial?

What if I’m unlawfully imprisoned and I want to be freed?

James 5 speaks about the prayer of faith saving the sick

James 1 however speaks about how we need to count it all joy when we fall into temptations

Also, James was stoned to death

Acts 1:14 “14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”

Unity in prayer

Corporate prayer

Acts 2:42 “42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Prayer is Apostolic!

Acts 10:4 “4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.”

The Memorial prayer

Romans 12:12 “12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;”

Continuing in prayer

Instant in prayer

Patient in tribulation? Won’t continuing instant in prayer secure my deliverance from that?

Ephesians 6:18 “18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

Prayer and staying vigilant in prayer

Endurance in prayer

Philippians 4:6 “6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Pray fast, pray first, and pray always

Everything starts with God

Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

John 1:1 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

God is our starting point for everything, including, very specifically, the office of prayer

Hebrews 11:6 “6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Prayer works or fails based on two premises:

God exists

God’s ability and willingness to answer

If either one are absent, the office of prayer is irrelevant

That God exists is presupposed, or requires faith based in our understanding of scripture to acknowledge

That God is able and willing requires a relationship with Him to the point we can trust Him

Both are always present, however

God ALWAYS answers prayer, but sometimes the answer is WAIT. And sometimes the answer is NO.

Trying to reconcile these answers are where we can get ourselves into trouble.

We can start to doubt our presuppositions based on our experiences

When we allow ourselves to walk by sight, or by experience, or by feeling, instead of by faith, we open ourselves up to doubt

Faith vs. Doubt

Both are faith, the difference is the expected result AND your perception of God

Some say doubt is faith in reverse

Hebrews 11:1 “1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith believes in God’s ability and willingness to heal, but at the same time allows for God to work within a much larger picture

Sometimes His people, after much prayer and fasting, die of sicknesses. Why?

Doubt is not that you want to stay sick. You want a healing but you believe that you will stay sick. Why?

In this case you cannot imagine a scenario where a loving God would not heal you.

You don’t believe God will, or you don’t believe God can, or you don’t believe God is, typically in that order.

Knowledge vs. Relationship

For a long time I believed people just needed more information, more knowledge about Jesus and that would suffice

I failed to realize the equal importance of building a relationship with Him.

I can know every intimate detail about someone, but I don’t know them.

I don’t know how they would respond to specific scenarios

I’m not privy to their thought processes

Even though I may know his public image, I have no idea what he’s really like. How he really thinks about things. Who he really is.

Once I really get to know that individual, and they get to know me, we’ll start confiding in each other

They’ll open up to me about what they’re after in life

About experiences in their past that influence them today

Even about secret doubts and fears

You may end up leaving the conversation thinking “I would never have guessed that about them.” for good or bad.

Doubt vs. Faith

Gary Habermas book, “Why is God ignoring me?”

There’s a misconception that doubts are largely factual in nature and a good dose of data will snap you to your senses and you’ll never have a doubt again.

Three categories of doubt:

Factual - Most people believe their doubts are factual, when in fact very little of our doubts have any basis in facts

Emotional - The overwhelming majority of doubts end up being emotional in nature.

Volitional - Again, very little of people’s doubt ever occurs as volitional

By far the most serious type of doubt

Doubt often starts as a question that remains unanswered (when you question whether your spouse loves you or not). It festers until it moves to the emotional level (Well, do you love me or not?!?!). Eventually it will move to the volitional level (Well, you stay on your half of the house, and I’ll stay on mine. I don’t want to talk with you). It’s not that you’re not married, it’s just that that fact isn’t helping you right now.

Why don’t people pray?

Some people don’t believe God exists…until they come to a foxhole experience

Some people don’t believe God is able to meet their need, especially when it comes to forgiveness (I’ve done too much for God to forgive me; My sins are too great)

Why don’t Christians pray?

Most people don’t believe God is willing to meet their need.

Impatience (I can do it myself faster)

Laziness (prayer is too much work, takes too much time)

Uncertain of God’s will, or more generally, God’s character

Unwilling to invest the time and effort to build a relationship with God

In other words, we misunderstand what prayer really is

What is prayer, really?

Prayer is how we commune with God

So much more than bringing a list of requests before the throne

Prayer is fellowship. Prayer is relationship.

First and foremost, God wants a relationship with us

This is why God created us - to have fellowship with Him

This is why Jesus died on a cross - to re-establish a relationship with Him

The more intimate our relationship with God, the more prayers we’ll see answered

We won’t be asking amiss

We’ll be asking for things that matter to God

Conclusion

Is prayer important?

It’s essential

You cannot live for God without prayer

Your ministry will not prosper without prayer

God’s Kingdom will not grow unless His people pray

Prayer works because:

God is

God is able

God is willing

We must be a people of prayer

We must be a church of prayer

God’s House must be a house of prayer