Prayer is essential to the believer’s walk with God. But we sometimes wonder what kind of influence praying really has. We ask:

IF THE LORD CONTROLS ALL THINGS, WHY DOES HE WANT US TO PRAY?
God desires to involve His children in the work He is doing; through prayer, we can be part of His plans and purposes. Praying regularly also helps us maintain a sense of dependence upon our Father and leads to a deepening intimacy with Him. Furthermore, God desires to bring us into agreement with His will. The more our plans line up with His, the more He is able to accomplish in and through our life. In addition, He knows that answered prayer will grow our faith.

WOULD GOD’S PLAN FAIL IF WE CHOSE NOT TO PRAY?
God is not subservient to us, so His plans are contingent only upon Himself. He works all things after the counsel of His will, not according to our prayers. However, He prompts us to communicate in order to include us in His eternal purposes.

DOES MY FAILURE TO PRAY AFFECT MY LIFE OR ANYONE ELSE’S?
According to Scripture, some things that God has planned to give will be received only if we ask Him (James 4:2). For example, Jesus did not perform many miracles in His hometown because so few people had the faith to ask (Matt. 13:57-58).

Jesus’ actions illustrate the place prayer ought to have in the believer’s life. Knowing that God was in perfect control of all things, He consistently went to the heavenly Father in prayer. Will you seek to follow Jesus’ example?

1 Chronicles 16:11
“Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually’”

Psalms 4:1
“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.”

Psalms 145:18
“The LORD is near to all them that call on him, to all that call on him in truth.”

Proverbs 15:29
“The LORD is far from the wicked: but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”

Matthew 7:11
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

Luke 6:12
“And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”

Luke 18:1
“And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”

IT IS WELL. GOD BLESS