Why Pray?

Why Pray? God already knows what He's going to do.

Why Pray? God already knows what we need or want.

Why Pray? It doesn't really change anything.

Why Pray? Why Pray? Why Pray? I have been asked this question by so many people. And, their arguments are logically compelling. Their emotion is honest and often heart-breaking.

One influential woman in my life, Carol Nauta, struggled with this before her death. She heard a pastor friend of mine share a personal story about his own life. He showed graphic pictures of his minivan and explained how he and his family had survived a terrible accident. "Praise God!"

Carol's concern was, "Would he still be praising God if they hadn't all walked away from that accident?" If not, her feeling was that the, "Praise God", wasn't genuine.

She wondered aloud with me. "Why pray? What good does it really do? We just have to trust God that He'll do what is best."

So, for Carol, who lost her life in a tragic accident and heard us singing, "Blessed Be Your Name", at her funeral, I guess this is my best reply to your question.

Let me begin with the three questions I posed earlier. Each one exposes a different lie we tend to believe about prayer.

1 - Why Pray? God already knows what He's going to do.

This is true. Some have a picture of God waiting around until it is time to act. Possibly waiting until we pray in order to decide what to do. The Bible doesn't describe God this way nor is it how we experience Him in our daily lives.
 
God is constantly at work all around us, and we miss most of it. So, the response of healthy spirituality is not trying to convince God to act. He is acting. The act of prayer is not to motivate God. God is fully motivated.

Our hope is to discover what He is doing. Prayer opens us up to see what God is doing all around us and to understand His will. Prayer is not about telling God what to do. It is about perceiving what God is doing, what we have missed in the midst of our own business or our own busyness.

2 - Why Pray? God already knows what we need or want.

This is true. Some have this picture of God wanting to hear about our fickle desires and longings and ever-changing moods as if our prayers are the tabloids of His life. He can't wait to get the juicy details of our love lives, who we are fighting with, and what's the latest gossip on our friends. They think that God somehow benefits from us pouring all of this out to Him in prayer.

The Bible describes God differently though. Many times when people cry out to God, they feel that he is not listening, not caring about the agony that they are going through. That is not to say that their feelings are accurate, but rather just the opposite.

How you feel during prayer is much less important than we have been led to believe. Our spiritual and emotional health depends on us knowing what we are feeling and being able to express it appropriately. That is true enough. But, whether we feel like God is listening doesn't change the reality that He is listening.

Often, it takes our time of prayer to pour out our hearts to God before we realize what we want and need and the difference between the two. Then, in prayer, in the presence of God, God can begin to reveal to us why we think we want certain things or need certain things. He can reveal to us the deeper truths, the greater needs that so easily elude us in the busyness of our lives. In these times of silence and solitude, of focused prayer, of listening prayer, our needs and wants can be transformed to fit with reality, with the truth.

3 - Why Pray? It doesn't really change anything.

This is the least true of these statements. It is true in that it doesn't usually change outcomes (except when God does something truly miraculous and sometimes He does!). It is false, however, when we consider how prayer changes us and changes our relationship with God.

Prayer directly changes us. It allows us to step back from our lives, to recognize that God is in control and not us, and to see what God is doing all around us.

As we are changed through prayer, our relationship with God is changed. We recognize God's work in our lives, our role in His plans, and we are more willing to be obedient to His Spirit when He leads in some way. Sometimes, prayer can cause us to change our habits, choices and words based on our new understanding of reality. This influences all of our other relationships.

God's action may dictate our own action in response. Or, we may be called to participate in His action and so partner with Him in His work. Or, we may just be able to marvel at His work and give Him praise.

Why pray?

First, in prayer, we learn to recognize God's activity in our lives and acknowledge His will. Then, in prayer, we surrender our own needs and wants and allow Him to change them, to align them with His will. And, finally, prayer changes us, changes our relationship with God and changes our relationship to those around us.

That is all very reasonable. For those of us who want a more personal answer to "Why pray?" here it is. Prayer is when the best part of me, the part that is longing to draw closer to God, to live for God, to love God with all that I am is nourished and refreshed and feels alive and free. It is in prayer that I feel at peace with myself and all of the circumstances in my life. It is through prayer that I experience the presence of God in my life and am reminded that all is well with my soul simply because God is present. His presence changes me and therefore changes everything.

The task of the Christian is "to become aware of what God is doing so that I can respond to it and participate and take delight in it," (p.4, The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene H. Peterson.)

It is how we learn to love the Lord with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our strength, and all of our mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Take some time to pray, just be you in the presence of God, and be ready for God to transform you so that you become who you were created to be a little more each moment.

Everywhere in Everything: Our Work is Done by Waiting, Expectantly Waiting to Reveal His Glory

If God is so great, and I agree that He is, how can I help others come to know Him.

God is always at work way before I realize it.
He is loving people.
He is revealing truth.
He is shattering lies.
He is building up and tearing down.
It reminds me of Solomon's wisdom

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

        a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

       a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build, 

       a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,  

       a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 

       a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

       a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

       a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

God is working and moving and loving and His grace fills our lives and the lives of those around us while we sit often unaware.

As followers of Christ, we can see all the aspects of our lives, our families, our friendships, our work, our love interests, our recreation, our learning, our stuff, the weather and all of the other circumstances of our lives and receive them as an act of faith. Everything is touched by God, everything flows through his fingers to us. He makes the rain fall on all of us. Tragedy and comedy, romance and heartache all come through His fingers and fall into our lives.

When we see our lives as a gift of God, we learn to trust. We learn to have peace amidst trials and hope in the darkness. We learn to be grateful and to live each moment not waiting for something better to come along. We experience God in our everyday.

And, as we interact with the Creator of the Universe, we interact with those around us. If we live in this reality that nothing is by chance and nothing is meaningless and everything is an expression of God's grace and our faith, then those with whom we interact, will be confronted with reality.

It is tempting to live a lie, to deceive ourselves. It is tempting to live like we are in control, or like we can manipulate and coerce and get our way. It is tempting to believe that we are not responsible for our own actions or that we are responsible for others. It is tempting to deny reality and live the lie.

When, we live in the truth, not only are we confronted by the lies that we have believed but those around us are confronted by their own lies.

How many times have you experienced God's forgiveness? How many times have you seen yourself for who you are, seen your sin and felt guilt or shame? And, in that moment, how many times have you experienced the flooding of His grace? How many times have you KNOWN that you were forgiven and that your sin was removed as far as the East is from the West?

When we experience forgiveness it leaks out. How can it not? When I have faced my own sinfulness and experienced true forgiveness, how I can I condemn you for your sin?

God is at work all around us and most of it is hidden from our view. But, when we live each moment receiving it as a gift from God, we are ready to allow Him to break out into the open, to reveal Himself through me or in any given situation at any moment.

And, there we will be. Ready to point it out. Ready to give credit where credit is due. Praise God for His faithfulness. Praise God!

And, so we do our job as followers of Christ. We point out what others may have missed. We point out whenever we see God's messy fingerprints on something. We point out beauty and peace. We point out truth and grace. We point to God and invite others to see Him too.

And, then we rest and enjoy the moment, knowing that for now our work is done.