Devotion - Why Pray - Part 2


Last week we saw that we need to pray because Jesus himself prayed. If the master needed to be in communion with the Father, if He needed to hear the voice of God the first thing in the day, how much more we need to do the same. Jesus always led by example and we do well to follow His example and walk in His steps.You will notice that the disciples came to Jesus in Luke 11 and asked him to teach them how to pray. Don't the disciples know how to pray? Every Jew is taught the Prayer of Moses and memorises portions of the Torah by the time he reaches the age of Bar Mitzvah. Why then the request, "Teach us to pray" They must have noticed that the way Jesus prayed was different, He addressed God as Father when the Jews dared not even mention the name of God. How often have you read in the Old Testament where God was addressed as Father? But Jesus addressed God as "Abba"...Daddy. In fact Jesus prayed with such authority and hence the request, "Teach us to pray like the way you do, not the way we have learnt". It has been said that the average American pastors pray for 20 minutes and the average Korean pastors prayer for 2 hrs a day. No wonder the churches in South Korea are growing at an alarming rate.

The second reason we need to pray is because Jesus commanded us to pray. In Luke 10:2, Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Their first important thing to do in evangelism or mission is to pray. Not to plan a meeting to work out strategies or policies. We miss this crucial link. Without prayer there is no evangelism or missions.

In Phi 4:6-7: Paul, says,"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". We are encouraged to present everything to God in prayer. How often important decisions are made based on man's reasoning, advise from intellectuals and own ambitions and the result is offered to God as a prayer for blessing and not for counsel. When David was faced with difficult situations, he always consulted God. Saul on the other hand could not wait for the prophet and eventually consulted the witch and the result was treacherous. Even David's grandson, Rehoboam, consulted his friends when making a crucial decision concerning the nation and the rest is history. We will do well, if only we can wait on God and pray before making any important decisions, rather than decide and pray, only to regret the consequence.

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