Why Should Christians Pray?

Why Pray?

Christians serve an all-powerful and all-knowing God. While it makes perfect sense to worship such a powerful and awesome God, sometimes people stumble over these truths and wonder what the point of praying to God is. I’ve heard it asked this way: If God knows what we need and when we need it, and He knows everything we think about, why do we need to pray?

So, why do Christians need to pray? In one sense, the answer to this question is simple. We don’t. Christians don’t need to pray at all. That is not to say that prayer is unimportant or irrelevant. However, it isn’t something you need to do. It is possible for you to live your entire existence without ever praying. So, prayer isn’t a “need.” On the other hand, prayer is one of the greatest privileges extended to the redeemed in Christ. Christians don’t need to pray but the truth that we get to pray is absolutely breath-taking! While virtually every religion practices some form of prayer, the Bible teaches that apart from Christ it is impossible to approach God. Part of the glory of salvation in Christ includes the right to boldly approach the Creator and address Him as our heavenly Father. As our Father, God responds to our prayers according to His own will and good pleasure. Therefore, while Christians may not need to pray, we are privileged to pray and to know that prayer matters because God is alive and attentive to the prayers of His people in Christ.

As we dig deeper into this question, we will see there is a lot of nuance. Let’s explore the most important of these themes together in greater detail.

If God Already Knows, What’s the Point in Praying?

Jesus Himself taught:

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:7-8)

Jesus explicitly taught that our Father knows what we need before we ask. However, Jesus then goes on to teach the most famous prayer in history. Far from teaching that prayer is useless because of God’s omniscience, Jesus teaches how His followers ought to pray in light of this important truth.

God knows what you need before you ask Him. Therefore, pray this way…

Check out our book on the Lord’s Prayer, Faithful in Prayer: Seven Biblical Priorities in Prayer. We think it will be a great encouragement and help to you in your own prayer life!

Privileged to Pray

There are a number of different nuances to this question:

a theology of prayer;
a discussion on the character of God as our Provider;
the theology of Divine Omniscience; and also
the tension between Divine Sovereignty and Human freedom.

However, at the very heart of this question is the relationship between God and Man. Quite simply: we don’t need to pray. We get to pray! This is an awesome reality that most of us fail to truly understand. The gospel is about reconciliation. It’s about restoring our relationship with our holy and righteous Creator after our sinful and foolish rebellion against Him.

Without reconciliation, approaching God in and through prayer is not only impossible. It’s terrifying.

Relating to a Holy and Awesome God

We need to take a moment to realize that our ideas and conceptions of God often fall woefully short of the reality of who He really is. This is an understatement. Just like people have probably had different ideas about you. Sometimes those ideas are correct. Sometimes they are incorrect. Who you are, though, doesn’t change because of someone else’s conception of you. The same is true of God.

God is not an abstraction. God is not an idea. God is a Person and He is who He is.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; (Exodus 3:14a)

The mental box that we try to keep God in is insufficient and inadequate. It’s not worthy of Him. In some ways, it is necessary. Our finite minds can never fully contain nor comprehend the infinite God who lives and reigns.

Still, we must try to accurately wrap our minds around how He has chosen to reveal Himself in His word. In the Scriptures we see God manifest Himself on a number of occasions to humans – some notable examples are Isaiah 6:1-6, Ezekiel 1:22-28, and Revelation 1:12-17. We also have a whole bunch of articles dedicated to helping people Know and Walk with God in Christ.

In describing the coming of the Lord in His glory, the book of Revelation says:

The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:14-17, NASB)

The reality of who God is should cause us to tremble at His name. There is no one and nothing on Earth or in all of Creation to whom He can be compared. All of the power and glory that we know is only a small fraction of the power and glory contained in Him. Volcanic eruptions, nuclear bombs, and the blazing of our Sun are nothing when compared to the One who spoke the universe into existence.

He is God. There is no other. There is no one like Him.

In His presence, no unrighteousness or impurity can stand. See how the prophet Nahum describes our God:

A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, And clouds are the dust beneath His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither; The blossoms of Lebanon wither. Mountains quake because of Him And the hills dissolve; Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence, The world and all the inhabitants in it. Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire And the rocks are broken up by Him. The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him. But with an overflowing flood He will make a complete end of its site, And will pursue His enemies into darkness. Whatever you devise against the LORD, He will make a complete end of it. Distress will not rise up twice. (Nahum 1:2-9, NASB)

“Distress will not rise up twice.” That means the Lord doesn’t mess around. When He brings judgment, He doesn’t have to do it again! Once is enough.

He is God. There is none like Him. He is unmatched in glory, power, and majesty.

Why the Gospel is So Good

We must add to our understanding who we are:

as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
“THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”;
“WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”;
“THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,
DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,
AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.”
“THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.” (Romans 3:10-18, NASB)

If we weren’t trembling before, we should be now! On our own, we have no chance before God. We’d have a worse chance of surviving an encounter with God than a birthday candle would of withstanding the heat of a blast furnace.

Yet this is part of the Good News of the gospel:

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach-- (Colossians 1:21-22, NASB)

That is awesome.

So is this:

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25, NASB)

Because of Christ, we who believe can stand in the presence of the Almighty. Because of Christ, we are invited to enter into the Holy of Holies. Because of Christ, we get to pray to our God. (See also Psalm 34:15 and Proverbs 15:29).

Because of Christ, God’s disposition towards us is forever changed from being under His wrath to experiencing His love and favor (John 3:36).

Laboring in Prayer

This privilege is also an important responsibility. Prayer matters. Although God’s goodness is given to us fully and freely in Christ, that doesn’t mean that everything happens automatically. It is certainly true that God knows what we need before we ask. However, do we recognize the importance of coming to God and actually asking for Him to provide these things? Such an exercise in faith demonstrates our reliance upon our heavenly Father. If we take our relationship with God for granted, we may not receive certain things simply because we have failed to ask.

You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:2b-3)

Our motives also matter when it comes to prayer. God isn’t a vending machine that provides what we want so long as we push the right buttons in the right order. Never forget: He is God.

What is perhaps even more amazing than all of this, is that God adopts us into His family and delights in giving us good gifts and for providing for our needs as His children (see Micah 7:18; Matthew 7:11; Galatians 3-4; James 1:17; and Romans 8:32). God also desires that we participate with Him in His work of salvation by being co-laborers with Christ (1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

Prayer is part of our participation in this labor. When we pray, we are relying on His strength to accomplish those things that we cannot. As we yield ourselves to Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we pray to God that He would accomplish His purposes in us and through us (see Matthew 6:9-13, especially verse 10).

Likewise, God is pleased to give us a meaningful part in His work in that our prayers release His power (Revelation 8:3-5). Although God does the work, our participation in prayer is significant. If we fail to participate with Him, our disobedience means that there is a lack in what God is willing to accomplish in our midst (James 4:2).

God’s Delight

One final element to consider: God delights in us because we are His creation. As a Person, God desires that we have genuine and true fellowship with Him. A similar question could be asked: If our parents know what we need and when we need it why do we need to talk to them?

Hopefully, we would answer this question by saying that we want to talk to them because our relationship with our parents is more important than simply the “stuff” they give us! In the same way, shouldn’t our relationship with our Heavenly Father be more than Him silently providing our every need without us talking to Him?

We don’t need to pray. We get to pray.

Have you spoken to your Heavenly Father today?

While it is difficult to ask many famous and powerful people, God has made it easy for His people in Christ to constantly draw near to Him. It doesn’t get much better than this.