Why We Pray

I love prayer, and fully believe in its power. But one time, after I was sharing my belief that God already has our future planned for us, and knows what's going to happen, someone then asked what the point of prayer is. If the Lord already knows what He's going to do, why pray?

I have a few ideas:

- To show our obedience. His word says time and time again to seek Him. In prayer, that's what we do.

- To know Him. It is before His throne, at the feet of Jesus, that we learn more about who He is and what's He's done for us.

- To expose ourselves to Him. He already knows us more fully than we know ourselves. But when we share our heart with Him willingly, it shows our submission and our understanding of the necessity of bowing to His will for our lives.

- To hear from Him. Ever been in prayer and just heard the Holy Spirit talking to you - whether an answer, a direction, or a conviction - that's what prayer's about!

- To grow in our relationship with Christ. How can you profess to be in a relationship with someone you don't talk to? That's ridiculous.

And, possibly my favorite:

- To experience His faithfulness. The prayers that get fulfilled are the ones prayed within God's will. to pray within God's will we must know His will. Prayers within the Lord's will get fulfilled because He'd planned those things long in advance for us. And when our prayers get answered, we see how faithful and sovereign our Savior really is. This can even be in the small things.

Example: I realized I really wanted a stellar salad tonight (with fish and hard boiled egg and avocado and other veggies). This happens once in awhile in my home, but generally not when I'm expecting/craving it. It may sound a bit silly, but I prayed for it. God knew far ahead of time that we'd be eating an out of this world salad tonight - long before I even knew I'd be in Senegal! And it was wonderful; I simply said thank You Lord. Tonight, that was how God said, "I'm here, and I can provide for even your simplest and smallest desire"

I never profess to be more than a 20 year old  learning what it means to walk with the Lord, so please don't think I have it all figured out. This is just what I've discovered on the journey so far.