When you have exciting news, who do you share it with?
If something is bothering you, who do pour your heart out to?
When you have a secret, who do you confide in?
As you read those questions, you probably thought about a specific person for each one.
As human beings, communication is very important because that’s how we connect with each other.
Communication also helps us to develop and strengthen our relationships with people.
So we can say that communication is vital for connection.
And that’s why prayer is so important.
Prayer is the way we communicate with God. Through prayer we can share our hearts with God so we can tell Him about the:
Good things that are happening in our lives
- Struggles we face
- Challenges we want to overcome
- Secrets that we hold close to our heart
Prayer is important because it connects us to God!
What is Prayer?
Prayer is the act of talking to God.
Think about your friendships. You will realize that you have to spend time with your friends to build the relationship.
And one of key ways that you build the relationship is that you talk to each other audibly.
Likewise, you have to talk to God audibly and share what is on your mind.
You can start your prayers by praising God for who He is and thanking Him for all that He has done and provided for you.
You can also use your prayer time to confess your sins to the Lord and ask Him to help you overcome temptation.
Additionally, you can tell Him about anything that is bothering you and you can ask Him for help, provision, guidance, wisdom and anything else that you want or need.
You can say a short prayer now like,
Dear God,
It’s good to know that you are good and that you love me. I thank you for your faithfulness throughout my life. I am grateful that I can share my worries with you because you care for me. So I’m kindly asking you to help me _______________________. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen
7 Reasons Why Prayer Is Important
Let’s look at 7 reasons why prayer is important. There are many reasons but we will be focusing on 7 in this article.
I hope that as you read these reasons, you will be more motivated to spend time in prayer daily.
1) Prayer is the primary way to communicate with God
God speaks to us in a variety of ways. He reveals Himself to us through nature, the Bible and even in dreams.
But how do we talk to God? Well, the primary way to talk to God is through prayer.
If you have something to tell Him, then you have to pray.
Prayer is important because it is the way we communicate, connect and develop our relationship with our Creator.
It’s the way you express praise and Thanksgiving to God.
It is also the means of communication by which we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness.
Can you imagine what life would be like if we couldn’t talk to God? It would be difficult and we would feel so alone and helpless.
Remember that God is your Father and He wants to have close fellowship with you. He has instructed us to cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us.
2) Prayer is important because it is a command
As you read the Bible, you will realize that we are commanded to pray in several books of the Bible.
In Luke 18, Jesus tells us that we are supposed to pray at all times and not give up.
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up
He also tells us that we should ask and it will be given unto us.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing.
pray without ceasing
And in Colossians 4:2, we see that we are supposed to devote ourselves to prayer.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
It is clear throughout Scripture that God wants us to pray. It is His will for us and that’s why it’s so important.
3) Prayer is the way to ask God for the provision of our needs and wants
Prayer is important because it is how you can express your desires to the Lord.
He wants you to ask Him for things and to realize that He is your ultimate provider.
Look at what the Bible says in James 4:2-3 (NIV)
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
I hope you realized that God is revealing to us that we have to ask if we want to receive. And if our motives are pure, we will receive.
God knows you have desires and He wants you to tell Him about them.
What do you want?
Take some time to ask the Lord for your wants and needs.
Remember, you have not because you ask not.
4) Prayer helps you to experience the peace of God
One of my favourite Bible passages is Philippians 4:6-7. I mention it in many of my blog posts because it is so important in my life. This is what it says:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
In this passage, Paul is instructing us to worry about nothing. Instead, we should pray and give thanks.
The next line is the amazing part.
He then tells us that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
If you have been worried, stressed or overwhelmed, take some time to pray about the issue, ask God for help and give thanks.
Then bask in the peace of God as it calms and reassures you. You don’t have to carry all the problems on your shoulders.
Lay them at the feet of Jesus. That’s what the Bible instructs us to do.
Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you.
5) Prayer helps you to overcome temptation
Another reason prayer is important is that it helps you to overcome temptation.
Prayer is your spiritual weapon.
Do you remember the Bible passage that refers to the time Jesus spent in Gethsemane before the crucifixion?
During that time, He told His disciples that they should watch and pray so they would not fall into temptation.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
-Matthew 26:41 (NIV)
From this verse, we see that it is essential to be spiritually vigilant so that we don’t give into the weakness of the flesh.
And you can be spiritually vigilant by praying and asking the Lord for help to overcome temptation.
I want you to remember that if you are being tempted, you need to pray!
Watch and pray so you don’t fall prey to temptation.
6) Prayer is the way by which we ask God for His intervention in the world
If you want to see a change in your life, your friend’s life or the world then you have to ask the Lord for the specific change.
Whenever you need a situation to change, you have to ask God for His intervention through prayer.
Do you remember when Hezekiah was sick and was at the point of death? Hezekiah prayed and the Lord told him that He would heal him.
Based on the Scripture in 2 Kings 20, it’s clear that the Lord healed Hezekiah because he prayed.
If you want to see a change in the world, you have to pray. Don’t just expect it to happen.
Open your mouth and let your request be known to your Almighty Father.
When there seems to be no way, pray. In Colossians 4:3, Paul instructs the believers to pray that God would open a door for the Gospel message to be proclaimed.
Paul didn’t just assume that God would automatically open a door. He asked the believers to pray for an open door.
In Matthew 9, Jesus told His disciples that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. He then instructs them to ask the Lord to send out workers into the field.
God wants us to ask Him for help in solving the problems that we face in this world.
As a Christian, you can help to change the world by praying earnestly.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
-James 5:16b (NIV)
7) Prayer strengthens your faith in God
The final reason on this list is that prayer strengthens your faith in God.
The more you pray and see God working, the more your faith in Him will be strengthened.
As your faith in God grows, you will be encouraged to keep praying and the positive feedback loop will continue.
Key Tip For Your Prayer Time
If you find it difficult to pray, I want to share a key tip with you and hopefully, it will help you.
The reality is that as Christians we know we should pray regularly but sometimes we don’t.
If this is you, practise playing worship music in your house, room and/or car. It will help your mind to be focused on God.
You’ll be more likely to start praising and thanking God and that will lead you into a time of prayer.
Takeaway
Prayer is important because it connects us to God. I hope that these reasons will inspire you to spend more time in prayer.
It should be reassuring to know that you have access to the supernatural when you pray. When you pray, you’re asking God for His supernatural help to deal with the issues in this natural world.
Prayer is a privilege that God has given us as humans to communicate with Him, the Maker of the Universe.
Set an alarm on your phone as a reminder to pray daily so you can connect with your loving, Almighty Father who cares about you more than you can ever comprehend.