Why We Pray

  I have always struggled with prayer.  I could never understand why we would make requests to God when He already knows them. Why would I tell Him what He already knows?  It didn't make sense.  I knew that you were supposed to pray, I wanted to pray, but I just couldn't understand praying.

  With these recent changes God has made in me, He has taught me different things. First, He taught me how to utilize things we have been given, things we can achieve, etc.  Things that I will be talking about in the future.  Then, He began teaching me about prayer- He still is.  As I learn the key to prayer, why we pray, and how to pray, I want to share it with you all, for any of those who struggle as I have.

  So far, Dr. Tony Evans' sermons have been amazing in helping me with this.  I went through a sermon series on prayer, then a series on making God first in your life.

  Communication with God is extremely important.  Often, one problem we have can be causing a ton of other problems.  Example 1:  Your power goes off and you try to flip different switches on and off, then you realize a flip has switched in your breaker box.  That one switch caused everything to shut off. Example 2: A medication reaction is causing you to have ten different side effects.  You have all of these problems, and you don't know why.  You think you're sick, you think you're depressed, when all along it was just that medication.  One problem can cause so many other problems.  With that, lack of communication with God can cause a million other problems in your life and your walk with Christ. Isaiah 65:24 "It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear."  Before you prayed it, God already answered it. So you're not praying for God to do something that He hasn't already done.  You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows.  You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; So light will shine on your way.  Job 22:27-28

  A good example of explaining prayer is this; Imagine your netflix, itunes, or whatever you use to access your movies.  They all have a set amount of movies that you can access.  The movies already exist, but they don't just show up on your screen.  You have to order it. Now, you can pull up your netflix without ordering anything, but you can't watch anything or use anything.  You don't create a movie when you order one.  You are taking what was already there for you to use. Technology is so advanced that thousands of people can all use netflix at the same time.  They can all order and watch movies at the same time without overwhelming the system or causing it to not work.

  Praying to God and making your requests known, is pulling down what God already had planned.

 When there is something wrong in your life, pray to God, access what God is so ready to give you.  Call to Him.

  Also, God wants your attention.  He wants you to talk to Him, make Him first.  When something goes wrong, He wants you to go to Him first and find out what He thinks of the situation.  Not your best friend, special someone, or mom or dad.  He wants you to go to Him first and find out what He thinks first.  Doing this saves you from all of the drama, and who knows, by going to Him first, maybe He'll make it go away so quick that you won't even need to go to your family or friends about it.  God has the power to make it go away while your friends and family do not.

 So, we have learned that by praying, you are accessing what God is ready to give and that by praying, you can go to God with your problems and find out what He thinks about it, instead of what everyone else thinks about.  From just those two things, (I'm sure there's far more) I think that praying is pretty important!

 I feel like all my life as a Christian, I've been running in circles.  Up a hill, then down a hill.  Up a hill, then down a hill.  I feel like God has picked me up like a mother would pick up her baby who has wandered away, and has placed me back where I am supposed to be.  Not only that, but He has given me the tools I need, the pack I will need, and has told me that I will not be traveling alone.  He will travel with me, He will come with me on this journey, and help me through it.  How amazing is that?  God is so, so amazing!

Deuteronomy 1:30-31

30 The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’

Isaiah 46:4

Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

I can't walk this road without you, you cannot go it alone
We were never meant to make it on our own
And when the load becomes too heavy and your feet to tired to walk
I will carry you and we'll be carried on   Rebecca St. James - I'll Carry You