Prayer’s Purpose

Men praying to God.

Do you believe that God hears you every time that you pray? He does! One of the most amazing truths that I have learned about God is that He is so interested in us. He cares about every detail of our lives. 1Peter 5:7 encourages us to wrap all our cares in one big blanket and hand them over to God, because He cares for us. Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 11:28 that he’s a burden-bearer, and he invites us to unload our burdens into his very capable hands, because he’s able to bear them. So, it’s a definite ‘yes’ that Heavenly Father hears our prayers, but our goal as His sons and daughters should be to connect to Him intimately through prayer. This is the most enriching spiritual experience, and it should be every person’s goal.

God loves communicating or communing with us. John 4:24(NKJV) tells us, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” One of the things you learn very quickly about being in relationship with God is that He’s makes you feel so special. It’s easy to begin thinking that’s it’s just you and Him. We can become so friendly with God that we forget who He is. He’s Spirit, the Most Holy of Holies, and His holiness deserves the highest level of respect and reverence that we can muster. When we view our prayer lives from this perspective, prayer takes on a whole new level. It’s becomes a more intentional effort on our behalf to honor Heavenly Father and dedicate time to focus on Him.

Intimacy in our Relationship with God
God tells us in 1Thessalonians 5:7 to “pray without ceasing.” This doesn’t mean that we should do nothing but pray 24/7. It means that prayer should be a continuous recurrence. We should try to pray to God through the Lord Jesus Christ on every occasion that we can. It should be a habit pattern of our lives, and it will become extremely meaningful to us when we understand how important prayer is to our relationship with God. David is a great example of someone who understood this. In Acts 13:22, God said that David was a man after His own heart because he did everything God wanted him to do. It is important for us to know that David was not a perfect man, but God tells us in 1Samuel 16:7 that He doesn’t see people the way that we see them; we look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

In the Old Testament, David was the King of God’s people, the Israelites, and he went through many obstacles and adversities. 2Samuel 22:2-5(NLT) gives us a song he sang to God because Heavenly Father rescued him from his enemies and the threats of Saul, “2 He sang: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; 3 my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence. 4 I called on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.” David built a strong relationship with God because he saw God’s faithfulness over and over again. God always had his back, and over time, a catalog of faith was anchored in David’s heart. God will do the same with us. If we’ll trust Him and begin to invest in our prayer time with God, He’ll prove His love without fail. Through prayer, our relationship with Him will continually deepen.

Expressing our desires and needs to Him
2Corinthians 3:5 tells us that God is our sufficiency. He will provide for us even down to the minutest detail when we truly seek Him. God is our Father and He delights in providing for His children. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 7:7-11(NIV), “7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Prayer is the spiritual currency that allows us to cash-in on God’s promises. As His sons and daughters, He’s given us the privilege to take our needs to Him, to trust Him, and claim His provisions in the faith our Lord Jesus Christ.

Inviting Him His Will to be done
Psalm 84:11 (NLT) tells us, “For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.” There are many people who believe that God withholds blessings from them because they have sinned, or because they have not lived the way He instructs. They believe that God punishes them by withholding the thing they greatly desire. This is not the truth. God doesn’t withhold blessings. Jesus Christ told us in Matthew 6:8 that Heavenly Father knows what we need even before we ask, but God still tells us to ask. We, you and I, have been given the authority, privilege, and duty to invite God’s Will into our lives and into the earth’s realm.

In Matthew 6, Jesus Christ also teaches us about the proper attitude and heart in which to approach God’s throne. He gave us instructions on how to pray and said in Matthew 6:9-10(NKJV), “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Our prayers extend an invitation for God to intervene in our situations and circumstances, and not just this, but we can pray that He will bless the lives of others and have confidence that He will honor our prayers.

The purpose of prayer is to cement a tighter relationship with God, and our relationship with Him has a direct correlation to our quality of life. God wants to provide us with the best life of which we are capable of living. He wants to see us blessed, and our prayers can align us with His Will. We must remember, though, that God examines our hearts and wants us to come to Him in humility and faith. When our desire is to honor our relationship with Him through our prayer lives, Hebrews 4:16 says that we can come boldly to His throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help us in our times of need. ■

4TheChristianMan

Christian encouragement and inspiration for men

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