Why Pray?

While working through the Sermon on the Mount, we spent a few moments a few Sundays ago wrestling with this sentence:

"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Matthew 6:7-8

The first reading of that sentence would cause some to ask: “If God already knows what I need, then why pray?”

I can think of three basic answers to that question.

First, we should pray because Jesus prayed.

The Bible is replete with example of Jesus praying. The greatest example, perhaps, is when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night of his arrest, and He prayed:

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
Matthew 26:39

There are many other examples of Jesus praying in the New Testament. Another favorite of mine is found in Mark’s gospel, where Mark records:

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Mark 1:35

Thus, the first answer to the “why pray” question is because Jesus prayed.

The second answer to the “why pray” question is because apparently Jesus thinks we should pray.

Go back and look at the first four words of Matthew 6:7. Jesus says, “And when you pray…”

Obviously Jesus thinks we should pray, because He instructs us to pray.

So, there are the first two answers to the question as to why to pray even though our Father knows what we need before we ask Him.

There is a third answer to that question. This answer comes less from empirical evidence of the Word of God, and more from experience. Another reason to pray, even though our Father knows what we need before we ask Him, is to know God better. I think we should pray because prayer teaches us more about God.

Andrew Murray worded the third point this way:

“Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God.”

Oswald Chambers nails the third point with this quote:

“Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means for getting something for ourselves; the Bible’s idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.”

So what is the bottom line? Or, as I often ask myself when I am preparing a message for you, “So, what is the big deal?” The bottom line or the big deal is this: prayer draws me into deeper intimacy with God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth; the Father of all who call Him Lord and the Sustainer of all who trust in Him as Savior.

In summary, I pray because Jesus prayed. I pray because apparently Jesus expects us to pray. I pray because I need God, because I want more intimacy with Him, and because I cannot live without Him.

So, why do you pray?