Troublesome TopicWHY PRAYING IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU CAN DO

Throughout church history there have been many who have described prayer as the most important thing we can do, or something similar to that. Several names come to my mind, but I refrain from giving a list of names because I would be sure to leave out some important people who have said something along this line. Such is the frequency of such statements.

But at the same time, the true reason for such statements is often lost on most followers of Jesus. Or we may assume that prayer is so important because we can use it to get things done, that through prayer we convince God to do things that otherwise He would not do. But that is wrong-headed thinking and contrary to the teaching of the Bible about prayer.

When we engage in true prayer, three important things happen – we become more like God, it is more likely that God will open an opportunity for us to see Him at work, and as a result we will give glory for it.

Allow me to unpack those three points:

  1. True prayer is one of God’s best training tools because it teaches us to think like He thinks and have a burden for others the way He senses such burdens. Asking for favors does nothing to train us in sensing God-like burdens, but true prayer is focused directly on that very thing. When we have a burden for others, we will be more likely to act on their behalf without any desire for self-aggrandizement. Let me say it another way; true prayer doesn’t change God or my circumstances, it changes me! In God’s school of spiritual life there are a very small number of things on the top tier of teaching instruments when measured by their effectiveness at teaching me how to be like God; true prayer is one of them, accompanied by other special tools such as suffering persecution for the name of Jesus, radical faith and radical obedience. According to II Peter 1:4 God has “given you His precious and great promises so that through them you might become sharers in the divine nature….”  Did you catch that? He wants us to share in His divine nature, to become more like Him, to be reflection of what He is like. True prayer is an important part of becoming more like Him.
  2. True prayer only asks God to do what He has already committed Himself to do. So we know God is going to do the thing we ask, we just don’t know when, where or how. But God often wants to act when and where someone is paying attention. Those who are paying attention are those who are praying for God’s expressed will to be done.
  3. Therefore, God will often (but not always) act in ways, places, and times that allow the people who are praying in this way to see it and give Him glory. That is the purpose – His glory. We cannot control or predict this; all we can do is pray for God to do what He has obliged Himself to do, and when we see it happen, we must say to others, “Let me tell you what God did.” God has always desired that His creation give Him glory. George Meuller is a good example of this principle. He did not start his orphanage to meet the needs of the children, but because he thought that it would be a good way for God to receive glory – and he was right. He saw God move in many ways which enabled him and everyone around him to give God the glory. We still talk about it today.

The next lesson in this series is WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PRAY “IN THE NAME OF JESUS”?