What prayer can do for you has to the important of prayer in one’s life. No one who truly understands prayer believes that by this means one advises God of anything He doesn’t already know or of how or when to do His will. Prayer is the expression of our desire to God, but true prayer is not an insistence upon that desire. Nor would anyone who knows God want to persuade Him to do anything that is contrary to His will, even if such persuasion were possible. After all, God is wiser than we are. To express in prayer, as Christ did as a man, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42), is to acknowledge one’s finite understanding and to surrender one’s desires to God’s infinite wisdom and love, knowing that His way is best.
ARE YOU READY FOR THE RETURN OF THE LORD?
Then why pray at all? Let’s look at a specific example. Suppose a person is seriously ill. Prayer for that person’s healing is an expression of one’s love and concern. It is also an admission that healing is in God’s hands and a confession of utter dependence upon Him. Suppose the person recovers so miraculously that there can be no doubt that God intervened. Would God have healed the person without prayer? Inasmuch as full recovery was clearly God’s will, we may be certain it would have occurred without prayer but perhaps not in an obviously miraculous manner.
So what was the point of prayer, if basically the same effect could have occurred without it? All prayer that is not self-centered is an opportunity first of all to praise and thank God and to express one’s love to Him. Paul said, “With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). So worship, thanksgiving, and praise to God come first in prayer and are certainly more than sufficient reason to pray.
CHURCH LEADERS: PLEASE, READ AND BEWARE….
Prayer is also an opportunity to express to God one’s love and concern for others and, at the same time, to obediently submit to His will. Prayer can have a powerful effect in molding one’s character and bringing one closer to God. The godly person’s prayers begin to reflect more and more the will of God as He changes the character and thoughts and deeds of the one praying to conform to His will and plan in all things. God’s Spirit moves us to pray for the very thing that He is going to do. The petitioner becomes God’s partner in the working out of His will on earth.
As for why those who are His own and for whom God cares should ever have any needs, there are several reasons. First of all, as any wise parent on earth would do for his children, our heavenly Father may be teaching patience and molding character by delaying answers to prayers for certain needs. There also may be conditions that must be met in one’s life before God sees fit to meet some needs.
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A child will never learn self-control and self-discipline and the other essential lessons in life if the parents instantly give him everything he wants. Knowing this, and being confident of God’s love and care, one does not despair when prayers are not answered but seeks to learn what God is teaching. Of course, there is also the difference between what we may think are real needs and those things that God, in His wisdom, considers to be unnecessary or even harmful desires. Thankfully, we wait in vain for Him to provide those for us.
BIBLE LESSONS ON RELATIONSHIP!!!
