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Oct 2018
Prayer helps us to partake of God’s grace and power that He has made available to us through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16).
“Prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse” (Steps to Christ, 94-95).
Because we are constantly in need of God’s blessings; the word of God encourages us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17; see also Luke 18:1, 2).
This does not mean that we are to constantly be on our knees in prayer, but that we are to maintain an unbroken connection with God by faith.
For “without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we are in danger of growing careless and of deviating from the right path” (Ibid, 95).
REASONS WE PRAY
- Prayer helps us to develop and maintain a good relationship with God. Without communication a relationship would die for lack of intimacy and sharing. Prayer helps us to be intimate with God as we share our deepest thoughts, needs and feelings with Him. It is through prayer that we have conversation with God.
- Prayer is the means by which we ask for and receive strength and blessings from God. “It is part of God’s plan to grant us in answer to the prayer of faith, that which He would not bestow if we did not thus ask” (Great Controversy 525). Hebrews 4:16 (KJV 1900) “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
- Prayer helps us to defeat temptation when we call upon God for help. The battles that we have to fight in the Christian pathway are greater than we can handle in our own strength. This is why we need to pray—we need to pray for power to overcome temptation and to do God’s will.
- Prayer helps us to maintain a continuous and unbroken connection with God. Connection with God is essential to spiritual growth; prayer is the only means by which we can maintain a constant connection with God. This is why the Apostle Paul encourages us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
- It is through prayer that we confess our sins to God and receive forgiveness from Him. 1 John 1:9 (KJV 1900) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”