Why Should I Pray?

Luke 11:1-13 (ESV)

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him,

“Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray,

say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

3 Give us each day our daily bread,

4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.”

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him,

‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing

to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and

my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he

will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he

will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek,

and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the

one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if

his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will

give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Why do we pray (or not pray as the case may be)?

There are significant intellectual problems with prayer.

If God is sovereign, isn’t He going to do what He is going to do anyway? And if God will only

do His will anyway, why not just pray, “Thy will be done” and be done?

And if God knows everything, doesn’t He already know what I want, need, and am going to say

in prayer? So, doesn’t that make prayer pointless?

First, let’s be clear that our experience of life is more profound than our understanding of it (take

a moment to let that sink in!) and it always will be! God is infinitely greater than we are, so in

our relationship with Him, there will always be things He knows that we do not. Hence, there

are going to be a good many things that we are going to have to trust Him about. So, ultimately,

for the faithful, obedience – trust and obey – is a sufficient answer. And this is not an ‘anti-

intellectual’ answer, because it is very reasonable to assume that if God told us to pray, that there

is a good reason.

We have been told to pray; therefore, it must make a difference whether we pray or not. And

Jesus prayed – he set an example for us. That really is enough reason.

2

But God has invited us to ‘reason with Him’, so I think it is good for us to explore what we can

know about why it matters that we pray.

Blaise Pascal (French theologian and mathematician) offered three reasons why God gave us the

gift of prayer that are still well worth considering.

First, Pascal said that God, in giving us the gift of prayer, gave us with it what he called, ‘the

dignity of causality’ – to be a cause of what the ‘first cause’ does. Pascal points out that if God

wanted us as subjects and not merely objects – He had to do this. Translated, God has called us

to pray – to petition Him – because there are things that God will do, if and only if, and when

and only when, He has been asked. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you.”

Let’s be clear, God never violates His law or His goodness, but there are some things He doesn’t

do until and unless we ask. I understand this as a father, and Jesus specifically makes the point

that God is a good Father!

We should note that this does not impugn God’s sovereignty because He has freely chosen to do

this. Hence, as Pascal points out, that makes us subjects (citizens) of God’s Kingdom, not

merely objects. Prayer can, and sometimes does, factor into what God does directly. He does

some things, only if we ask! As James points out in 4:2, we have not because we ask not!

Prayer is not pointless! God has given us the dignity of causality; the opportunity to “move the

hand that moves the world” – to change history! Do not underestimate this!

This really shouldn’t surprise us so much that God acts in this way. Some gifts we aren’t ready

for until we ask! Can’t we remember as children when we went to our parents and “Mom, Dad,

may I?” And their response was, “We were just waiting for you to ask!” Prayer makes a

difference!

Second, Pascal said that God gave us prayer to “understand” Him better – His virtues, His

character, His nature, His will – to “see” Him. Translated, that means prayer can change our

perspective – particularly about God!

Henri Nouwen as a renowned Roman Catholic scholar and known for his spiritual insights. He

shared the following story about when he met with Mother Teresa of Calcutta. As they sat down

together, Henri started to tell her all of his problems. For ten minutes, he tried to convince her

how complicated they were.

When he was finally quiet, Mother Teresa said, “Well, when you spend one hour a day adoring

your Lord and never do anything you know is wrong … you will be fine.”

Nouwen’s response? “I realized, suddenly, that she had punctured my big balloon of complex

self-complaints and pointed me far beyond myself to the place of real healing. I had raised a

question from below and she had given an answer from above – from God’s place and not the

place of my complaints. Mother Teresa’s answer was like a flash of lightning in my darkness.”

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Nouwen advises, “Your life, my life, is given graciously by God. Our lives are not problems to

be solved, but journeys to be taken with Jesus as our friend and finest guide.”

God wants us before He wants anything from us! And He still wants us, whether He gets

anything from us or not! That’s what love is, and God really does love us! Isn’t that someone

worth spending time with?

Being with Him, and then being with Him throughout the day, that’s what we need to understand

about Him the most – and that understanding comes in prayer as we live with Him, and not for

Him.

Third, Pascal said that God gives us prayer as a means by which we receive His virtues. As we

pray faithfully, it makes us patient (like God is with us). As we pray faithfully, it makes us more

persistent (like God – unstoppable!). As we pray faithfully, it makes us more hopeful, not

despairing (like God – who has not given up on us). As we pray faithfully, it makes us more

loving (like God, who is interested in the end result – the good of the beloved!). Prayer changes

us into His likeness.

And I would add a fourth thing. God has given us prayer so we can have a living relationship

with Him, because you cannot have a real relationship with a person you don’t communicate

with!

It is like the elderly couple sitting on their porch with their grown-up son. Their son said, “Dad,

in all my life growing up, I never heard you tell Mom that you loved her. Why is that?” His

father answered, “Son, I told her that on our wedding day. If anything had changed, I’d have

notified her.”

We may laugh, but is that a real relationship?

God knows what you’re going to say, even before you say it. Many times, so do our parents and

so do our spouses, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to say it! Until we say it, there is no

real communication, and no real relationship. Talk to God – He will listen, and He will answer!

Why pray? Because God has told us to, and in many respects, that’s reason enough. But with

this great gift of prayer, He has also given us the dignity of causality, a means to understand Him

better, to be changed into His likeness, and to have a living relationship with Him. There is great

purpose in prayer.

As A.W. Tozer said, “God waits to be wanted.” Don’t keep Him waiting. Talk with Him today!