The Purpose of Prayer

There has been so many times that I have ask the question, "why pray" and gone over and over again my questions on that topic. A amazing woman that I follow here in blogger addresses this question and answers that question the best that I have heard it answered. So here it is. She has a very sick son that is in the hospital. You can imagine there have been many many prayers sent up for him...


"I believe that God answers prayers. The Bible says that He does, so I believe it. I have experienced it. I know it to be true in my heart and in my brain. But you see, God does not always answer in the way or in the time frame we want. We can ask, we can be specific with our requests, we can spread requests on prayer chains and on Facebook, via Twitter and on blogs. And yes, God answers prayers! But the outcome we hope for, and beseech God for, is not always the outcome God has in mind.

Nor is there at all any Biblical proof that God uses any sort of tally system when answering prayers. He does not have a notebook in which he makes hash marks for each prayer prayed for each specific need, nor does He dole out answers accordingly.

There is no evidence I've ever seen to support the idea that God is up in Heaven sayiing, "Well, let me see, since Stellan received x number of prayers today, I guess I'll allow him to break out of SVT."

You see, God hears our prayers. But God still does what He, in His sovereignty, is going to do. He listens to our prayers, hears us each and every time we speak to Him, think to Him, or even groan to Him. God is affected by our prayers and He wants us to pray.

But God is still God. I firmly believe that our prayers do not change God or His mind, at least not in the way we sometimes think. If He answers our prayers by giving us the outcome we requested, consider that that is because He knew we were going to pray before we ever prayed. He knows the past, present and future all at once. And when God does not answer a prayer the way we wanted to...what of that? If a sick child passes away, in spite of her parents begging God to spare her life? What are we to think of that? Did the child not live because there were not enough prayers said on their behalf? Absolutely not!! I cannot pretend to know the mind of God and why He allows children to die and others to suffer. But I do know that Christians believe that death is not the end. As unbelievably tragic and sad as losing a loved one must be, there is hope beyond this life. I do not think that God wants any child to die and their parents to live life without them. And there is no way I believe that any child ever dies because not enough prayers were prayed on their behalf. God is infinite and I just cannot understand His ways. But I do know that He is eternal, and what He allows on earth is viewed by Him from an eternal perspective that we finite humans simple cannot fully comprehend.

I do just know that God listens to our prayers. He does not always answer our prayers the way we want him to, but He does answer them. Yet I have no reason to hold the belief that our prayers have power in and of themselves. Our prayers don't change things. God changes things.

You see, prayer...it changes us. But more on that in a minute.

Hmmm. If it is God who changes things, then why should we bother to pray? Can more prayers, or very heartfelt prayers, be the impetus in changing God's mind about something? I suppose maybe, but with a twist. See, if God were to change His mind about something*, because of our fervent prayers, it will be something that God already knew would happen. He knew that thousands of fervent prayers would be lifted for Stellan. So, although I am certainly not inclined to think that more prayers create a higher likelihood that we will get the outcome from God, I suppose that maybe He changed His mind about what He was going to do, because He already knew that many would pray. And in that case, since He is omniscient, He already knew He would change His mind. So, I am not sure if that truly counts as God changing His mind in the way that we humans mean it. God knows what He is going to do regarding every thing, small and large, that happens in all of our lives from now until the day Jesus returns and we all take up residence somewhere besides earth.

*And there is some Biblical evidence about times when it surely does appear that God did change His mind. But regarding the idea that larger numbers of praying people are more likely to impact God to change His mind? My gut is telling me that God's will doesn't exactly work on a numbers game like we think it might.

Okay, seriously now...then what is the point of prayer!?

Maybe the point of prayer, if it isn't to get God to do what we want, is instead to bring ourselves into alignment with God so that we can be close enough to Him to be okay with what He decides instead of feeling like we need to try to get our way. Maybe the beauty in having lots of people pray for Stellan is not that the numbers of their prayers will influence God as it is that there is beauty in the number of people who may draw themselves near to God by praying.

Because what is going to happen with Stellan, I believe, is going to happen regardless. Maybe the joy here is in many of us learning to accept God's will for Stellan's life and become closer to Him in the process. I would quite honestly love little more than for that to be the outcome of the many prayers for Stellan. Do I want Stellan to be healed? To be free of SVT? Of course! But I fully trust that God is going to do what it best, regardless of if that outcomes seems best to my finite mind. Additionally, the more people who pray for someone, the more those people who are doing the praying will see God's glory in the outcome, whatever the outcome may be, and be themselves impacted by prayer. In that case, more is certainly still better! So keep on praying for Stellan, and for others! It's just that the impact of our prayers might not be just the impact we first imagined.

Hard to comprehend? I know! It is for me, too. It always helps me to remember that I am human. My mind is finite. I cannot be expected to truly understand the infinite. God doesn't require me to, but wants only that I trust Him. My mind, try as it might, can not get completely wrapped around God and His sovereign ways. Sure, it's fun and valuable to spend time in thought about deep issues concerning Christianity.

But.

At some point, I have also found that it's okay to let go of my need to understand everything about God. I can study up on God as much as I want, which of course I ought to, and still never reach ultimate understanding on this earth. That, my friends, is where faith comes in. I want to love God, and, ultimately, to trust that whatever He decides is best for Stellan and for all aspects of my life. To have faith in His omniscient ways regarding prayer, even when I don't understand. Even when I don't see. Even when things don't make logical sense.

In fact, Jesus said to those on earth who saw Him in the flesh, "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; but blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29 (emphasis mine)

I, for one, have never seen Jesus in the flesh. Yet I believe. My faith in Him allows me to overlook seemingly insurmountable human roadblocks to my prayer, as well. If God already knows what He's going to do, then why pray? Well, I pray because God tells me to, and because I believe He hears me. I pray to bring myself into alignment with God's will, and not to try to change God. I pray to communicate with God, and to get to know Him better, for He is my friend. I have faith that Jesus was real, did actual miracles, died on a cross, hears me when I talk to Him and wants to have a relationship with me. And when I have a relationship with someone, I talk to them.

Prayer is simply talking to God. Because He is real.

Jesus really lived, He really healed people, He really said He was the only way to Heaven, He really died on the cross, and He really walked from the grave and appeared to over 500 witnesses. What that means for your life can be questioned. That it happened, cannot. It is verifiable.

In fact, Jesus is the most documented person in history. If we reject his existence, Plato, Socrates, Alexander The Great, Ghengas Khan, William Wallace and Leif Ericsson are in real trouble.

So what is the point of praying?

I think we pray because Jesus was real, nay because Jesus is real. I pray because God made the earth and all humans, and so for one, it is not simply my responsibility, but rather my joy and privilege to be able to communicate with the Creator of all that is, and to His Son, who died for us all.

As I said, we can talk to God like we talk with our friends. If we love Him, and have a relationship with God, we will indeed want to chat with Him. In fact, the more I think about this question of what is the point of praying to ask God, say, for Stellan's complete healing if God already knows what's going to happen, the more I realize that the very question implies a misconception about prayer in the first place.

The purpose of prayer is not to try to get out of God what we want.

Of course, petition is one part of prayer, to be sure. God wants us to bring our requests before Him. And, as long as we understand that the outcome is entirely up to God, not us, we will be content. But praying with a favor for God, to ask him to heal Stellan, for example, while all fine and good, is not the only kind of prayer out there.

Because God is good, holy and perfect, He is worthy of our prayers. We are called in the Bible to pray to God, simply to talk to Him, to adore Him, to confess our sins directly to him, to offer Him thanksgiving for what He has done, to share with Him about our day, as well as to come before Him with supplication, requesting a need that we or someone we know has.

I often pray to God to get to know His heart better, to be in communion with Him so that I will be able to better discern His will for my life. I pray to draw myself close to the One who already holds me in the palm of His hand, and to bring myself in accordance with Him, and not vice versa!

Don't for one second ever let the fact that you don't pray enough, or are horribly sinful, hold you back. Because if you are, you are just like me, and in fact, we are exactly the people God wants to hear from! And when we talk to HIm, we ought not be surprised if He doesn't answer us like we thought He would, but instead reveals something completely amazing and beautiful to us about His nature.

So go ahead, keep praying for Stellan. Pray for other children who need prayer. Pray for yourself. And keep contemplating what you think the real purpose of prayer in the first place.

Because it just might not be what you have always thought it was."