What is the Point of Prayer
Pray without ceasing
(1 Thessalonians 5:17)
In recent months I have slowly made my way through a book by Charles Spurgeon on pray. The book is a collection of sermons Spurgeon gave on the subject. In all honesty, the book is dense and heady. It is difficult to read because every page has a lot to process.
With that said, this little book has opened my eyes to a world that I had never realized I had access to. It has made me recognize how I have misunderstood and underutilized prayer in my life, and that prayer should be desired by believers more than any earthly treasure. All of these things I hope to talk about in this series on prayer.
Yesterday, I saw a survey on Facebook by a brother that said:
The point of prayer is to:
- Bend God’s will to do our bidding.
- Align our will with God’s.
- Other
It may seem like the obvious answer is “B” and in some ways this is correct. Certainly, one of the reasons we pray is to align our will with the Lord’s, but this is only one function. The fact is that prayer is one of the main components of a relationship, but it is not the total of a relationship. For instance, when I talk to my wife, I am not simply attempting to figure out what she wants. At certain times this may be the case, but having a relationship is much more than attempting to figure out a person’s will.
Prayer is the highest form of worship because it serves many functions. It is the time when a believer approaches the very throne of God. We have the ability to sit in the presence of the Almighty and have Him listen to our request.
Prayer is a time to open our hearts, speak of the glory of our God, share our fears, relate our joy, request our desires, petition for our friends and family, change the very course of world history, open the flood gates of blessing, and of course, align our will with God’s.
We are allowed to come before the creator of the universe and discuss our lives, what is coming in the next day or week. Prayer is a way to build a relationship with our creator. It is also a time for us to ask for understanding when things don’t seem to be going our way. Pain and loss are a natural part of life, but for a believer, it all works together for good.
Interestingly, the more we dive into the Scriptures and dedicate ourselves to prayer, the more our will will naturally align with God’s. A believer’s desire should always be to carry out the will of our Lord. As we come closer to Christ through a deep and meaningful relationship, we will naturally align our wants and our goals with God.
1Thess. 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing because prayer is the continued interaction with the living God. We are on this earth to glorify Him, but prayer is the way we have an intimate and personal relationship with our Lord. He is always waiting and always listening.
I encourage you, if you do not set aside time every day to pray, now is the time to start. Begin to pray on a daily basis and you will inevitably come closer to our Lord.
Photo by Ben White
