If God already knows our hearts and desires, do we really need to pray? Many of us would say we should pray just because the bible says so.
In the book of 1 Thess.5:17, Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing”, however, why should we pray is the key concern and basis of being prayerful.
Throughout the Bible, we have been shown and told the importance of prayer, and prayer without ceasing cannot be done without the inner motivation of the substance of prayer.
How to Properly Pray to God.
- Set Aside Time:
Find a quiet and comfortable place where you can focus and connect with God without distractions. Setting aside a specific time each day for prayer can help establish a routine.
- Attitude of Reverence:
Approach prayer with a humble and reverent attitude, recognizing God’s greatness and your dependence on Him.
- Address God:
Begin your prayer by addressing God in a way that resonates with your understanding of His nature. You might use titles like “Heavenly Father,” “Lord,” “God,” or any name that holds meaning for you.
- Adoration and Praise:
Start by expressing your love and adoration for God. Praise Him for His attributes, creation, and the blessings He has bestowed upon you.
- Confession:
Acknowledge your shortcomings, mistakes, and sins. Confess sincerely and ask for forgiveness, knowing that God’s mercy is available to you.
- Thanksgiving:
Express gratitude for the blessings, provisions, and answered prayers in your life. Cultivating a heart of thankfulness helps shift your focus from what you lack to what you have.
- Supplication (Requests):
Present your requests and concerns to God. These can include personal needs, the needs of others, and any other matters on your heart. Be specific in your requests.
- Intercession:
Pray for others, including family, friends, community, nation, and global concerns. Lift up those who are sick, in need, or facing challenges.
- Listening:
Spend time in silence, allowing space for God to speak to your heart. This can involve reading Scripture, meditating, or simply being still in His presence.
- Submission to God’s Will:
Conclude your prayer by surrendering your desires to God’s will. Trust that His plan is greater than your own and pray for the strength to accept whatever comes.
- Amen:
Close your prayer with a heartfelt “Amen,” which signifies your agreement and affirmation of the words you’ve spoken.
- Consistency:
Make prayer a regular part of your life. Consistency helps deepen your relationship with God and strengthens your communication with Him.
- Variety and Authenticity:
While there is value in structured prayers, feel free to express yourself authentically. Share your thoughts, emotions, and concerns as they come naturally.
- Use Scripture:
Incorporate passages from the Bible into your prayers. God’s Word can guide and inspire your communication with Him.
- Trust and Faith:
Have faith that God hears your prayers and responds according to His wisdom and timing. Trust that He knows what is best for you.
As you speak to God, also take time to listen and be receptive to His guidance, comfort, and presence in your life. Over time, your prayer life will develop and deepen, reflecting your unique relationship with God.
Below are 9 Critical Reasons Why We Should Pray To God Everyday.
1. We Should Pray To God Everyday because God is Love.
There are many passages in the Bible that show us God’s definition of Love. From the Creation to Revelation, everything God has done with humanity displays his love for us.
Genesis 1:27 speaks “God created mankind in his own image” and without love, God cannot live in us. When we love someone or something, we spend time doing it or with them/him/her.
Prayer is about spending time with your creator who loves us unconditionally. Creating time when you can spend time with God shows that you love him and you seek him with all your heart.
Mark 1:35 shows that Jesus created time to go and pray; “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.”
Seek God in good and bad times by creating time for him every day.
2. We Should Pray To God Every Day to Show We Are Grateful.
In the Book of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, it says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus”.
As a Christian, you need to know that all that we have been given, all that w have received, is a gift from His hands.
As quoted in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
There is no other way of making your requests known to God other than through prayer. As we give thanks to God, we are also reminding him of our needs and blessings at the same time.
We are to go back to God time and again with thanksgiving just as the leper who returned to Jesus {Philippians 4:6}.
Prayer signifies worship and adoration which is a form of thanksgiving to the Almighty.
3. We Should Pray To God every day to Develop A Better Relationship with God.
Reading the bible and going to church is never enough if you are seeking to better your relationship with God.
There is nothing in our hearts that is lovelier, greater, more fulfilling than God himself. Prayer is the ideal way to talk to God, as we get to know him more.
Seeking God is all about having an intimate personal relationship with Him. Just as David, he gazed upon the beauty of the Lord and seeks to dwell in his house all the days of his life.
When a man desires to get to know a woman better, he wants to talk to her more.
Reading the Bible goes hand in hand with prayer, as God speaks to us through his word and answers us through prayers.
4. We Should Pray To God every day to Reveal our heart’s desire.
As we pray, we get to know more of God and more of us as well.
The advantage of coming before God in silence has been explained in the book of Habakkuk 2:20; “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all earth keep silent before him”. This is why Jesus gave time to God when it’s quiet with no interruptions.
We as Christians also should emulate that and have prayer time when and where it’s calm with no disruptions.
When you pray in such an environment God is able to reveal his desire for you and the purpose that he has installed in your heart.
Through prayer, we become more like God, which Holier as prayer displays our hearts to God and ourselves too. He looks at the heart and He knows and loves the heart that seeks after Him.
5. We should pray to God every day to Be like him.
Why did God create man in His own image? According to our capacity to love, reason, think, act on our choices, and choose, he did this so that we could interact and have fellowship with Him.
God gave man the freedom to choose sin or holiness but what he seeks more in man is to be more like Him, which is Holy.
By praying, God speaks to man, as we can comprehend since we have intellect just like Him.
Our need for prayer is to make God change us to become more like Him as he shapes and molds our hearts and our love is enthused and our minds changed.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says; “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The man became imperfect but God sent His own son Jesus so that mankind can seek to be like him as he was perfect.
6. We Should Pray To God every day, to worship and adore Him.
In Revelations 22:13– “I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
It means that everything that is, originates ultimately in him; and everything ends with him. The Book of Isaiah, states- “I am the first and I am the last; besides me, there is no God.”
Mankind cannot be dependent, quoted in Acts 17:28; “For in him we live and move and have our being.”
Pray helps us to communicate with Him as we seek God’s guidance because He knows better than we do. We were created in His own image but we can never be exactly like Him.
Just as the tower of Babel was destroyed when they tried to overdo God, He wants to be seeking and honoring him.
Mathew 6:33– “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
7. We Should Pray To God every day to Ask From Him.
We pray to receive from God as he is our heavenly father who loves to give and He is the giver of all good gifts.
James 1:5– “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
In Luke 11:13– “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”.
In the new testament, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit, John 3:15-17 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him because it doesn’t see or know him.
You know him because he lives with you and will be in you.” We are living in a time of mercy where God has granted us grace to love, forgive, and give us what we ask for.
8. We Should Pray To God every day for us to testify his work.
Many non-believers say argue why we should pray to God who predetermines all things. Romans 11:36 –“For everything comes from him and exists by his power, is intended for His glory, all glory to him forever! Amen.
If things would just be happening without praying to God, then mankind would have forgotten about him. He will use people’s prayers to accomplish His purposes.
God has given power and authority to his people as it says in God uses people’s prayers to accomplish His purposes.
God has given power and authority to his people as it says in James 5:16– “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Through the love, grace, and mercy of God, he has made our prayers firm, significant and obligatory.
9. We Should Pray To God every day to Glorify His name.
God created mankind for one main purpose, to glorify His name. We are his children and just as he loves us, he feels loved when we give Him all the glory and praise.
Through prayer, he gives us his response, and when all goes well for us, we always give him all the glory.
Many times things do not happen exactly as a man would want, but in the end, it works all well for the man so he can give God all the glory.
Every prayer answered, directly or indirectly, is all God’s work. Keep on being people of prayer as not any prayer prayed to Him is wasted or to be regretted.
