Why Should I Pray?

Have you ever asked yourself any—or all—of these questions:

• If God knows what we are going to ask, why ask?
• If he already knows what he is going to do, why pray?
• If my prayer causes God to do some good thing he was not going to do until I prayed, what does this say about the character of God?
• Why does he sometimes heal when we pray and sometimes not?

These are challenging questions about prayer that require answers.

After all, Pew Research Center reports that 68 percent of Christians pray every day. And yet, if I could hazard a guess, many of us may feel that our prayer lives are lacking.

When it comes to prayer, we may see ourselves as inconsistent, apathetic, or even defeated.

We feel remorse for not making prayer a priority, or we feel a lack of connection with God when our prayers aren’t answered within our preconceived timelines. And so prayer ebbs from our lives like a slow low tide.

That ought not to be the case. “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).

And yet so many of us daily wrestle with our prayer lives.

There are many reasons we don’t pray as often or as passionately as we could and should. But near the top of the list is the question, “Why?”  If we don’t understand why we should do something, it’s harder to do it. 

“Because I said so” isn’t an answer any child wants to hear from a parent.

In this devotional series, we’ll cover three reasons you should pray, as well as three obstacles to prayer.

But, right now, answer this question: “Why do I pray?”

Write down as many different answers as you can. Be honest. 

God already knows your heart. 

In prayer, you can get to know his.