Answer to: "Why is it so important to pray?"

Hello everyone.  Thanks for reading

Today's topic is prayer.

Now, this comes to me at a somewhat challenging time for those in Northwestern Minnesota.

Lord, please heal all those who are hurting from the flooding that has occurred, and help them to find the grace and strength they need in you.  Amen.

So, that was a prayer.

Anything can be a prayer, as long as you are not being offensive.

And that's the hard part, how do we pray when you can do it so many ways, and will it ever come true?

I heard a great talk from one of my friends this past week, about how prayers weren't coming true for her.

She was praying for this guy to like her, and to take her to prom, and it didn't work out.

Therefore, she turned to God in anger, and asked why He did this to her.

In doing this, she realized that God does not answer every prayer in the way she wants.  She did not get the guy, yet she has moved on and grown a lot from that experience. 

He does things on His own time, and only He knows what is right for us.

If He answered our every prayer the way we wanted, and our lives were perfect, would we continue to need Him?

No.

So, prayer is not always answered in the way we want.  Then why should we even bother?

God loves us.  He loves us so much, He gave His son for us.  Read the quote at the top of this page.

That is so much love, and it doesn't even stop there!

I believe that prayer is important because, although God knows everything about us, even our thoughts, He wants us to show Him what we want.

Does that make sense?

We should make the effort to tell Him what we want in our lives, for we do not know what we need.

Only God knows what we need:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

-Proverbs 3:5-6

And if He chooses a different path for us, and does not answer our prayers the way we want them to be answered, who knows what will happen?

For we do not, and He does.

Here's some amazing scripture from the letter to James:

"Are any among you suffering?  They should pray.  Are any cheerful?  They should sing songs of praise.  Are any among you sick?  They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.  The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."

-James 5:13-16

God, bless the readers of this message with what they need, not what they desire.

Your witness in Christ,

Emily

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