This post is the last part of a 4 part post on prayer. If you missed the other posts, they were posted on June 11, June 16, and June 22. Today we will talk about 2 more reasons why we should pray! I could keep adding more reasons because there are so many more, but I still stop at 10!
I love this quote by Corrie Ten Boom that a friend recently shared with me: “The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His Almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.”
8. Jesus set us an example to pray.
Jesus is the perfect example for us to follow. If in His perfection, He saw the need to pray, how much more do we need to be praying?! Sanctification is the process of our being made more like Christ. Are we praying in the pattern that Christ set for us? Are we following His example out of obedience and to become more like Him?
Luke 5:16- “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Mark 1:35- “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Luke 11:1- “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.”
A certain place. That’s what the Bible says about where Jesus was praying. It wasn’t just any place. It was a certain place He repeatedly went to for prayer. Repeated actions lead to habits, and prayer is definitely a habit we want to establish! Do you have a certain place for prayer? I encourage you to find your own special place to meet with God!
9. We pray to have fellowship with God and to worship and praise him.
When we love someone, we look forward to spending time with them. We will even rearrange other things on our schedule in order to spend time with that person we love. Do we put that priority on spending time with God, the person we should love above all others? Our actions reveal what we think. It kind of raises red flags when people say they love God but never make time to spend with Him in prayer. God loves spending time with us! God didn’t need us, but He wanted us because we bring Him pleasure. He created us for the purpose of having a relationship with Him and to glorify Him through that. When we seek intimacy with Him and worship and praise Him through prayer, we are accomplishing our very purpose in life and bringing Him pleasure!
Isaiah 43:7- “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
John 15:14, 15- “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
Ephesians 1:5,6- “He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”
As I finish this 4 part discussion about prayer, MY prayer is that you will look forward to that special time with God, both through the continual uplifting of your heart throughout the day and by a planned, intimate time with God in more concentrated prayer. God has sent you an exciting invitation to meet with Him. Are you going to RSVP? Or are you going to miss the party?
The Invitation
An invitation has been given for me to come before
A Holy God, the Risen One, my Savior, Christ the Lord.
What joy awaits unspeakable! It’s a glory only known
By those who kneel with humble hearts to meet Him at His throne.
O fathom deepest riches that this earth would shame to boast
As I lift up praises to the King, joined by a heavenly host!
Glory, honor to my God! Sing praises to His name!
There is no other God like Him— eternally the same!
Proclaim to all the earth aloud: Great things that He has done!
His righteousness shines brighter than the blazing noonday sun!
Celebrate His mighty power! Rejoice within His grace—
That He should make a way for us to look into His face!
Amazing love that ushers us to come sit at His feet
And enter in communion— there’s no other joy so sweet!
O Lord, each day remind me there is cause for celebration
When I meet You as You’ve asked me to, a most treasured invitation!
– c. 2022 Bobbie Perkins
