Why Should We Pray?

Friday's cell group touched upon the issue of "Why We Should Pray". "Because we are Christians" is the wrong answer. Remember, Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. It is about desire, not duty.

3 key reasons why we should pray would be:

1) We pray because God wants to meet us.

Prayer is not about just asking God for things; we've all heard all the preaching about God not being a vending machine, someone we arm twist to get what we want. Prayer is about fellowship with God, talking to God. We fellowship with each other by talking to one another, engaging in activities, etc. Similarly, we engage and fellowship with God by talking to him via prayer. We do activities with Him through quiet time, prayer meetings, etc. God wants to meet us.

Luke 10:42 - Mary really sat down and fellowshipped with God. That is what He wants, for us to talk to Him, to fellowship with him, to build a relationship with him.

2) We pray to maintain the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

We all know how God resisted temptation from Satan. Samson didn't have the most healthy prayer life, and we all know what happened to him. Praying keeps the Holy Spirit in you, speaking in tongues attracts the Holy Spirit to you.

Mark 14:37-38 - Praying gives us the power to resist temptation. If you don't pray, resisting temptation is harder.

We are sent to go forth into culture and shine there. We are commissioned to shine in the marketplace, in the world out there. We live in a broken-down world, how do we rise about it? How do we rise above petty issues, overcome hurdles, breakthrough and inspire in ways that others are unable to? By resisting temptation, by getting strength from God and the Holy Spirit, by praying.

We can do all things through Christ, but only if we maintain a constant prayer life.

3) We can win the lost through prayer.

Prayer is the best way to aid evangelism! Remember, we are winning souls. We fight a spiritual battle! Evangelism is ultimately winning souls in the spiritual realm, and prayer is the most effective way to do this. As explained in Shiying's post, winning the lost requires aspects like spiritual fruitfulness, adoption and empowerment, all of which are possible only via a strong prayer lifestyle.

That's the importance of prayer. But how do we pray?

1) Be clear about what you want, no point beating around the bush or being vague. If you can see it, you can have it. If you don't be specific, how does God know exactly how to help you? If you aren't clear about what you want, then pray that you'll gain the wisdom to know what you want. Then pray for it.

2) Pray with your heart. If it doesn't touch your heart, it won't touch God's. God wants a sincere heart. If you're praying for it for the sake of praying, then forget it and don't waste your breath.

3) Present your burdens to the Lord. Tell him your problems! Don't forget, he is our rock, our fortress, our provider, our redeemer, our Father. He wants to help, so give him a chance to.

4) Pray with understanding in the Spirit. Speak in tongues - You won't see immediate effect in the physical realm, but things are moving in the Spiritual realm.

5) Be persistant! P-U-S-H! Pray until stuff happens! Pray till you sense a breakthrough. Praying is continuous and consistent. You don't just pray for something once, then forget about it and hope it will be answered in the near future. You ask and ask and ask.

So that's the basics of the cell group preaching.

Praying is ultimately about fellowship with God. You speak to Him, talk to Him, communicate with Him. You thank Him, you ask for things, you share your problems and feelings with Him. He is always there, always around, always listening to what we have to say to Him. Now you know the importance of prayer, and some ideas on how to pray. But i'm going to touch on something else about prayer.

Giving thanks.

Are you giving thanks when you pray? Giving thanks to God should be the first thing you do when you pray. We learnt how to ask for things effectively - be clear, concise, sincere, persistent, etc. But are you giving thanks? Remember, God is not your vending machine.

Amidst our daily lives, we encounter a multitude of problems. We have no problems thanking God for blessings and miracles, and no problems thanking him when things go fine. But when things go awry, are we still giving thanks? On a great day, we have no problem spending a long part of our prayer on giving thanks. On a bad day, how much thanks is given?

Ultimately, we believe in God's plan. He will lead us, he will carry us through, we will rise above the storm. He will not leave us high and dry, he will not abandon us, we will never be truly alone. We have to put our faith in Him and thank him still, before praying for stuff.

No matter how bad a day is, ultimately, we are still safe, we are still able to do quiet time, we are still able to pray. Let's give thanks for that. Everything that has happened has led our lives to this point, every trial, every blessing, every circumstance has enabled us to become what we are today. The people we meet, the people who inspired us, everything was engineered and planned by God. Our rebirth was aided by God. No matter how bad one's day was, at the end of it, we have God to rely on. Even when things turn bad, we will always have Him to fall back on and Him to look upon our situation and change it. Lets give thanks for that. We have the supportive people he has put into our lives to depend on. Lets thank Him for that. We are put through an ardous trial, tough situations, devastating problems. God tests us only with what we can handle, and we can handle anything through Christ who strengthens us. Lets thank Him for that, for having deep faith in our abilities, and for giving us strength. Maybe there's a day we feel abandoned by God. No matter how much we cry out for him, he doesn't respond. Or does he? He has given us friends and family who love us, who we can share our problems with, who can help us. Lets give thanks for that. We have a God who is ever present, ever loving, ever faithful. Lets give thanks for that.

In the end, there's always something to give thanks for. It's easy to love friends, but hard to love enemies. Similarly, it's easy to thank God in good circumstances, and hard to continue thanking and trusting in hard times. But no matter what happens, giving thanks is stil important. Let's not just learn how to pray for things effectively, but also to pray with appreciation for God.

P.S THANK YOU Venis, Junwei and Joachim who helped me with this. =D