Prayer is necessary... and good

Prayer has been hard to reconcile in my mind. If God is sovereign over everything, how then do my prayers have an impact on what he will or will not do. If Psalm 134:16, "...in your book were written, everyone of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them," is true, then why pray?

This is my conclusion: Jesus assumes it, scripture commands it, and I am within God's will when I do pray. If I am in Christ, then I have to take scripture as a whole and believe, apply, and practice what is says.

"5 And when you pray... 7 And when you pray...10 your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:5, 6, 10

"16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18


"16 ...the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." James 5:16b

"14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he heard us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked him." 1 John 3:14-15

(1) Jesus, when teaching the disciples to pray, says "and when you pray." He doesn't say, "and if you pray", he says "and when you pray"... so I am concluding that Jesus assumes, if you are in Him, that you will pray.

(2) Paul commands us to pray. He say rejoice, pray, and give thanks. Paul, also assuming that we are praying, says to do it without ceasing. That means all the time communication with God.

(3) Paul also says it is the will of God for us to pray without ceasing. Jesus says that while we are in prayer we should pray for the will of God to be done. And John tells us that when we are asking, according to God's will, and he answer our request, that we can have the confidence that we are in Christ; therefore, we are within the will of God.

I watched a sermon yesterday about the disaster in Haiti and I realized I can't afford to neglect prayer. I have to much on my heart to pour out to God. Praise and adoration, thanksgiving, and supplication. I will have to pray without ceasing in order to have enough time to say it all....

Prayer although a mystery to me... is necessary and good!