The Princess and the P'sÖrnek

PRAYER AND PRAISE Two of the purposes that God has for every believer are prayer and praise. God desires that we come to Him with our specific needs and requests. Of course, even before we pray, God knows what we need and desires to grant these things. But He has given us the privilege of receiving them in response to prayer rather than always acting unilaterally and without the involvement of His children. To experience God answering prayer produces a deeper and richer dynamic in the Christian life. We experience God actually responding to us and this gives us a deep sense of relationship. We are able to see that God is there, that He is moving on our behalf, and that He is positively responding to us. It is because God desires relationship with us that He has ordained that He will act through prayer. In answered prayer, we don’t just get the blessing of receiving from God, we also get the blessing of being involved in His work. A second purpose that God has for all of His children is praise. God saved us that we might praise His name. We are not to keep silent! We are to worship the Lord who has dealt so graciously with us. This can happen in word like when we sing praises to the Lord in church on Sunday morning, and it can also happen in our lives as we seek to bring praise and honor to the Lord in the way that we live.