Why Pray?

I want to talk about prayer... I have recently had my attention directed to prayer by a lecture from Dr. Daniel Henderson. I humbly share these thoughts... 

Jesus said, "When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward" (Matt. 6:5).

He was discussing motive. What is my motive for praying? What is your motive for praying?

We pray for many reasons. Here are some that I have heard and lived out myself:

     - Guilt

     - Approval (from God and others)

     - Need

     - Crisis

     - For peace

There are many reasons we pray. Paul taught that we should "pray without ceasing"

(1 Thess. 5:17). We should. But what motivates us to do so? 

The problem with the above mentioned motives for prayer is that they cannot motivate us to "pray without ceasing." 

Most prayer times that I've been a part of center on this question... "Does anyone have any prayer request?" This question sparks what honestly is nothing more than gossip masqueraded as prayer! Even then it usually about physical things instead of Spiritual. Before we know it... we have spent 30 mins talking about each other's family members or people who have fallen into sin until we look at our watches and say "Well, it's getting late... we better pray." This is not what God intended for prayer. 

 A little further in Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus teaches what is commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer. I have heard the prayer described in categories such as:

Who God is - v.9

How we respond - v.10

What we need - v.11-12

Where do we go - v.13

or...

Reverence

Response 

Request

Readiness 

Why is it so easy to spend all of our time focused on request? I believe it is because we don't know how to pray. Prayer is an act of worship. God knows our questions and needs. He doesn't mind hearing them... but we should never neglect spending time worshiping God for who he is by constantly bringing our "grocery list prayer request before him." How selfish we are!

If our motive to pray is simply because we feel we must, or to be approved, or because we have a problem... then we are not truly men and women of prayer. 

Daniel Henderson said, "The only enduring motive for prayer is that God is WORTHY to be SOUGHT!" There is a difference in seeking God's face to know him and seeking God's hand for our needs. 

Prayer is worship. We were created to worship. Live it... 

Blessings