Why We Pray

Prayer is our means of communicating and fellowshipping with God. It’s one of the tools of intimacy with and devotion to God and our access point to the spiritual. Prayer is the meeting place between God and men, and the intersection of divinity and humanity. There are many reasons to pray, and there is a myriad of scriptures to support this; however, for the purpose of this article, we will bring all of these reasons under two main reasons, namely:

1. So that God can do what He wants to do.

2. So that the devil cannot do what he wants to do.

Reason 1: So that God can do what He wants to do.

This may sound weird, given that God is sovereign and does not “need permission” to do anything. The interesting thing about prayer is that, in fellowship, God tends to delegate authority and responsibility to man such that a partnership of sorts is happening between God and Man. The scripture is replete with examples, and, like good Bible students, we must start at Genesis. In Genesis 1:26-28, God made man and gave him dominion over all that God created. This is the first sign that God can do without man, but there are things God will not do, not because He can’t, but because He has delegated that responsibility to man. Another instance in Genesis is in Chapter 2:4-6. Notice that in verse 5, Moses, by revelation, saw that God did not cause all the plants and herbs of the field which God had created to grow because there was no man to till the ground. We would see later that, immediately after man was formed and given the breath of life, God’s next interaction with Man was to assign him the responsibility of tilling the ground, so that it would make sense for God to cause it to rain, enabling the plants and herbs to grow. Notice that God could have, by His sovereignty, commanded the plants and herbs to grow at a specific rate without man’s involvement through tilling, but this is not the case here. God has, from the inception of creation, designed a beautiful system of His sovereignty interplaying with man’s responsibility. This is why Genesis tells the story of salvation: in it, God’s part is to make grace available (i.e., God planting a garden and placing man in it), and man’s responsibility is to believe by faith, and that faith produces works of righteousness (Man tending the garden he was put in). In the same vein, prayer also capitalises on this divine framework of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man, in that while God can do certain things, man is responsible in prayer to request those things, showing a preference to partner with man for the fulfilment of His sovereign will and purpose. Saint Augustine said, “Without God, man cannot and without man, God will not!” Hence, prayer is partnering with God to do what He wants to do.

In prayer, we surrender, and in surrender, we see the power of God.

Another notable example of God partnering with man through prayer is in Ezekiel 22:30, where God actively sought a person to stand in the gap —i.e., to intercede for the nation to prevent His righteous indignation, which they truly deserved —but He found none. Meaning like in Genesis where Abraham intercedes for Sodom, beseeching God not to destroy the city if He found some righteous people in there, but alas, there weren’t righteous people in that city except for Lot and his family. This clearly tells you that, in prayer, we can stay the due judgment some people deserve and release mercy in the form of the patience of God, which leads to their salvation. Some other examples that showed this partnership with God are:

1. The raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11)

2. The wedding in Cana Galilee (John 2)

3. Jairus’ Daughter (Mark 5:22-24)

All these showed some form of prayer, as the people in need asked God for a miracle, which is God’s will anyway. So then, prayer aligns us with God’s will, making it consistent with His nature to answer us. Apostle James tells us that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (James 5:16). There is a causative relationship between the prayer of a righteous man and the manifestation of the will of God through the demonstration of His power. What makes the child of God powerful is that He has the audience of God in prayer as purchased by the imputed nature of righteousness, which he received by faith in the finished works of Christ. Meaning, if there is anyone God is more likely to partner with to do what He wants, it will be the child of God, the righteous man. Prayer paves the way for the will of God to be accomplished because it is in the place of prayer that we surrender our will. This is evidenced in the model of prayer that Jesus taught, in His prayer in Gethsemane, and in how He taught His disciples to pray (Matthew 6:10; 26:39). In prayer, we surrender, and in surrender, we see the power of God.

Reason 2: So that the devil cannot do what he wants to do

The second reason we pray is to stop the devil from doing what he wants. There is a plethora of scriptures that show the evidence of prayer ensuring the devil does not get his way. Apostle Paul tells us that in Ephesians 4:27, “nor give place to the devil”. As simple as this verse of scripture may sound, you must take it seriously, as many Christians behave as if the devil does not exist and act without taking thought that by their spiritual inactivity and prayerlessness, they are ensuring the spirit is not being edified and, as such, the flesh is being strengthened. Jude 1:20 tells us that we build ourselves up in our most holy faith by praying in the spirit, meaning that any activity that builds the spirit inadvertently leaves no room for the flesh. Why? “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.” Galatians 5:17 NLT

Prayer aligns us with God’s will, making it consistent with His nature to answer us

So then, the active engagement in prayer ensures that we are spiritually tuned to God, with our spirits built up and with the capacity for spiritual things. Having learned that prayer aligns us with the will of God, it makes us more accessible to God and, as such, less susceptible to the whims of the flesh. The Lord Jesus said, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.” Luke 22:40 NLT. The devil tempts, deceives, and, as a result, destroys. The devil is actively against God and the purposes of God. As a result, his activities have one purpose in mind: to cause your faith to fail and for you to doubt God, thus putting you in a position that prevents you from getting all that God wants for you! So then, in prayer, we receive prophylaxis against temptation; if we do not give in to it, we won’t be accessible to the devil and his activities. The Lord Jesus, when He prayed for Apostle Peter, said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31-32 NLT. This tells us that as prayerlessness increases, the likelihood of your faith failing increases.

There are some other examples in scriptures where prayer prevented the devil from doing what He wanted to do:

The Story of Esther, Haman & Mordecai. Esther 4
Apostle Peter’s escape from prison. Acts 12:1-17
Paul & Silas escape from prison. Acts 16:25-34

All of these examples show that the devil has a line of activities that, if we don’t interrupt him by prayer, he will get away with nasty things. In conclusion, these two things are happening concurrently, meaning that as you pray, you are allowing God to do what He wants, diminishing the strength of your flesh and building up your most holy faith. Still, you are also building walls and defences against the enemy’s onslaught, stopping the devil in his tracks. Suppose you have not taken your prayer life seriously, I hope this article will stir up the desire, and as you bow before the Lord in prayer once again, He will not just amplify the desire; He will also work the ability in you, in Jesus’ name, Amen.