Purpose Of Prayer

Wherever you are right now, what do you see yourself surrounded by? Are you surrounded by the walls of your home or work? Maybe as you look around, you are surrounded by buildings, cars, trees, etc. Those may all be true, but that is in the physical sense. Spiritually, we are all surrounded and covered by God, His spirit and His love. He is always there, with us and in us. He knows what battle we are all going through presently and those we will go through. Some will fight that battle with worry, complaining, gossip, or feelings, but those are not weapons. God has equipped us with a powerful weapon, that of prayer. We were not meant to live in fear, but in love and in victory!

“Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.”
‭‭James‬ ‭5:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Prayer was created to be universal, for all of us. It is not meant to exclude any believers based on experience, a religious resume or anything else that may get in the way due to our human thoughts and fallen nature. We were created to pray, and we possess an inherent longing to pray to our Creator. Through prayer, we can all experience God and strengthen our personal relationship with Him.

There are many misconceptions of prayer. Some may say “that’s not for me” or “I tried it once, it didn’t work”. Still others may believe that prayer can only happen in a church setting, or that it must be a memorized set of phrases and recited back perfectly. This is not the case.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.” Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

God wants us to seek Him first in all things, and this begins with prayer. Prayer can be as simple as a conversation with our Heavenly father. Praise him and thank him for all he has done, tell him your needs and the needs of those you are praying for. He is waiting for you to talk to him. You will not be telling God anything that He doesn’t know already, but He still wants you to engage in a personal exchange with Him.

Prayer is an act of dedication to God. Seek him in all things and pray to him throughout the day, every day. Check your pride at the door, and realize that the end of you becomes the beginning of God. Become “we” with God, and remain dependent and connected to Him. Communicate with God, invite him into both your joy and your sorrow. He gave you free will, use that to choose a relationship with God. Don’t be intimidated that God will only listen to big problems, or to those whose problems may appear bigger than yours. God is a big God, He is big enough for everyone at all times, and remains inexhaustible.  

I challenge you to make prayer a habit in your daily life and see what God can do. Everytime you want to tell someone exciting news, start with God. When you need advice or help, seek God first. Before you take to your cell phone, Facebook or other means of communication or social media to express yourself or your thoughts, express them to God first. Put God first in all that you do and watch the mountains move!