The Purpose of Prayer

The Purpose of Prayer

Oswald Chambers writes, “Never say you will pray about a thing, pray about it.” Our Lord’s teaching about prayer is so amazingly simple, but at the same time so amazingly profound that we are apt to sometimes miss His meaning. The danger is to water down what Jesus says about prayer and make it mean something else. Yet the things Jesus says about prayer are supernatural revelations and that should be our personal guide in prayer.

Jesus says, “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matt. 6:8). God knows what you need! And if He knows what you need then He also longs to provide that for you. Ask because He knows, hears and provides.

But that is not the entire goal of prayer. Another goal of prayer is that you come to know God Himself in a more intimate way. When you spend time with the Lord on your knees or simply in your heart, soul and mind – you learn to discern His voice in your life, see His presence in your days and feel His power in all you do. Always pray. It is the greatest gift that Christ secured for us on the cross, after salvation. To talk directly with the God who made all and knows all is something we should never take for granted.