Why do we Pray

"Why do we pray," is a question we ask most of the time while we are in prayer. Thoughts of all the other things we could be doing flood our minds causing us to question, why am I really doing this. The temptation to cut our prayers short or to not take time to pray at all is the battle that we face. This is the time to fight the good fight of faith knowing that our prayers make a difference.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

Paul was in prison for preaching the Gospel when he wrote this letter to the Philippians and one of the hopes that he had was that through the prayers of others he would be delivered. How sad it is for people who have no one praying for them. God can still help them and get through to them, but how much more could God do in their lives if their family, friends, small group, and others in their church were praying for them on a constant basis.

Paul went through so many persecutions and trials preaching the Gospel that it is absolutely miraculous that he survived. In one day, in Acts 27 and 28, Paul was shipwrecked, threatend to be executed, and bitten by a poisenous viper. Most of us don't face this much danger in our entire lives, but it was just another day in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul. God definitely had his hand on him but one of the main reasons he was able to make it and keep on preaching was because of the prayers of many that went up on his behalf.

If the believers who knew Paul had not been faithful in praying for him, he could have died early and not reached all the people that he did and maybe not have written all the New Testament Epistles that we have today. Some may argue that Paul would have made it reguarless if people prayed or not because it was God's will for him to make it. Paul didn't believe that and neither did Jesus. Why would Jesus teach us to pray, "Thy will be done," if God's will was automatically done? The truth is, much of God's will is done as a result of our prayers.

Next time we get discouraged and wonder, "Why do we pray," remember the prayer partners of Paul and how their prayers sustained him through many dangers. Our prayers have an impact on the lives of those we pray for as well. We may not see it right away, but by faith we can know that our prayers are making a difference.