It is believed that prayer has the power to heal and ask for mercy from God.In the Holy Bible, it is mentioned that God commanded us to pray. But many Christians have this question in their minds regarding the reason behind it.Many people think that if God knows everything, and he has a plan for everyone, then why does he want us to pray? The answer to this question will be clear when we know ‘what is prayer?’ Prayer is the communication of a man to God. Through prayer, we ask God for something or thank him for what he has given us. But God might not always fulfill your wishes. This can be because he has something better for you than the things which you have asked for. But if God has planned things for us, then why do we pray to ask him for his favor? We do so in hope. Hope and faith that no matter what, if no one listens to you, God will surely listen to what you want to say.Hereafter, you must also understand why do we say the Pledge of Allegiance and why do we have laws?What is a prayer?Prayer is spiritual communication between human beings and God. Prayer can have the purpose of thanksgiving or hope for the betterment of something. Through prayer, we seek God’s help. Prayer is like you are talking to God privately about your problems or thanking him for whatever you have. The things which you can not tell to anyone, not even to your best friend, you tell them to God through prayer.We know from the written sources that humans have been praying to God to communicate with him since 5000 years ago. We need to pray to God to tell him our secrets. The forms of prayer have been changed over the years, but the main need for praying stayed the same. Many religions have different praying practices to communicate with God. Some have made the spiritual act of prayer a ritual, while some have made some restrictions as to who and when to pray, or who can not pray. While some have made the concept of prayer which can be practiced by anyone, anywhere, and anytime.Some people need to pray to express their sorrows to God, some pray to thank him for the good times in their life, some pray in a hope that God might help them in the hard times, while some pray for meditation. There can be many ways and reasons to pray, but the main thing is the communication with the spiritual being, the greatest of all, God.Reasons Why We Should PrayRejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.Thessalonians 5:16-18(NIV)In the Bible, it is mentioned several times that we should pray daily to God. We should pray to God as an act of obedience because God himself has told us to do this. Our heavenly father wants us to pray to him, communicate to him on a daily basis, and not just when we feel like praying. Praying regularly is a good habit.You talk to your family and friends daily or just when you feel like to. God is also like our family members. He likes us and cares for us. He wants us to tell everything to him, although he already knows everything. Your father may know that you have made a new friend, but you still like to tell him about that, and he loves to listen to that over and over. God is also like your father, he loves to listen to you every time. God wants you to talk to him regularly about everything.Another reason for paying to God is that it gives us hope. It gives us direction. When we talk to God about our problems, we have a hope that he will listen to them and act for our betterment. It gives us hope that no matter what happens, God will always be with us. Sometimes, when we talk to God about our problems, we find the answer in the communication itself.Do you love to spend time with your best friend? Yes, you do. God is also like your best friend. You have a relationship with God such as you have with your best friend. God wants and loves to spend time with you, this is the reason why he always listens to you. God is a best friend who is never busy and available to you every time and everywhere. Your best friend’s mom probably won’t allow him/her to stay at your home, but God is always with you.Whenever we have a problem we go to God for his help. We are commanded to approach the throne of grace with boldness in order to obtain mercy and find grace to help. When we fail, let’s boldly run into his presence, instead of running away from him.Benefits Of PrayingThe biggest benefit of the habit of praying is that you have someone with you all the time with whom you can share your secrets. Like, you are scared of the dark and don’t want to tell anyone about this because they will tell everyone that you are scared of the dark and make fun of you. But if you tell God about this, he won’t tell anyone and won’t make fun of you. Instead, he will give you the strength to fight with your fears and prove yourself to be a brave person. So you are never alone.Also other than this, prayer has many more benefits. Some are as follows.Prayer makes us humble and kind. Praying daily helps us to show our love, grace, and faith to our best friend, God. Daily prayer makes our relationship with God stronger. Praying gives us a positive outlook on our life. Prayers give us an opportunity to listen to the word of God. Prayer brings feelings of gratitude, compassion, and forgiveness. Daily practice of prayer gives us the confidence to tackle the hard times. Praying helps us to overcome the wickedness of higher powers aiming to harm us. Prayers help us to avoid committing any sins. Praying boosts our energy and helps us to develop a good mindset. Prayer helps to overcome temptation in our life. Prayer provides us physical and mental peace, and we feel energetic and confident. Prayer increases our focus and concentration towards the goal of our life.Why do we pray if God has a plan?We know that Lord Jesus Christ has a plan for us and he is going to fulfill it anyway, whether we pray or not. But praying is our duty towards God and assuring him that we are worthy and thankful for everything he has given to us. By praying we are making the plan of God work more efficiently.And do you know that prayer helps to combat evil? If not, then let me tell you more about it. God created humans on earth to live their life as they want. The first man and woman created by God were Adam and Eve, you probably know about this. But Adam and Eve committed sin. Now, because of this, Satan wanders the Earth and searches for people who he can destroy or harm. So, he is trying to counter God’s plan, making sure that no one lives happily in this world. Therefore as a believer, it is our duty to not let our enemy, Satan, mess with our best friend’s plan. By praying to god, we are fighting with Satan, and helping god in executing his plan with less difficulty.As we help God in his plan by fighting with his enemy, in return, he also helps us to fight with our problems. When we pray, we are requesting God for his help. Though you are following God’s plan, sometimes there are tough times where you need someone’s help. God is the one who will help you to accomplish your goals.Positive Effects Of PrayerPrayer has many benefits and reasons, as we have seen above. It has many positive effects on our life and mind. Prayer is a connection of our souls to something superior to us. When our soul comes into contact with such a thing, it grows mentally and spiritually, providing many psychological benefits to us. Just as when you talk to someone who is older than you, for example, your parents or teacher, you get to know many new things which help you broaden your mind. The same mechanism goes with the soul and god, through prayer as the medium of communication.Prayer gives us a feeling of optimism. A feeling that everything will be fine in the end. It gives hope that the tough times will pass and good days will be back. And when someone has hope, they do not get stressed, or anxious, or frustrated.Prayer helps you to cultivate a sense of gratitude. By praying you are thanking God for everything he has given to you and this world. This makes you a humble and kind person. This brings you a sense of forgiveness. You become a better person when you offer prayer.Prayer helps you to develop an open mindset. It helps you to broaden your thinking. It helps you to focus and concentrate. It helps you to solve your problems more efficiently. Prayer helps to develop rational thinking and emotional maturity. It helps you to increase your self-confidence.Praying is not only a religious act, it is also a social act. When you pray in the prayer hall of a church, you meet many people and socialize with them. This helps you to develop a sense of humanity. It gives you a sense of togetherness, a feeling of living in a society of civilized people. The power of faith in the Lord can never be undermined and prayer offers you a source to harness the power of your faith for achieving greater things.Why do we pray to Jesus?Every religion has a particular entity followers pray to. Some religions have this entity in the form of a person, such as Buddhism which praises Lord Buddha, and some have this entity with no personification, such as Islam which praises the supreme God in the name of Allah. While some religions have only one entity to praise, like in Christianity, a Christian would praise Jesus, and some religions have a number of entities to pray from, such as in Hinduism which has thousands of deities to praise.Have you ever heard that, ‘Christ died so that you might live’. He sacrificed his life for all of us. We pray to Jesus because this is the way that God approved for us to talk to him. We talk to our God in the name of Jesus. Jesus said ‘Most truly I say to you If you ask the Father for anything he will give it to you in my name’—John 16:23. Jesus is the one who shows everyone the path to God. Jesus and the Holy Spirit together pave the path to the heavenly father and the throne of grace.We pray to Jesus because being a Christian he is the one we believed in. Followers of every religion have their desiring god whom they pray to. We pray to our desiring God because we trust them. As you have many friends, you may tell your secrets to only one person because you trust that person more than anyone else. Similarly, we tell our secrets to the God we trust the most and pray to desire God. God is one, but he has many forms and names, which lead you to choose one from them, so you can have the desired God.Whether you pray Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, or pray desiring God, your conduct is largely governed by call in the scripture you hold holy. Therefore, you tend to follow the call that is being made by the scripture to send your requests to the lord for gaining everything that you desire in life.Why do some Christians choose not to pray?As Christians, we have been taught that prayerlessness is one of the biggest sins, but still, there are many Christians who do not pray to God. Why do they not pray even knowing all this? There can be many reasons for this. If a person is an atheist, means he or she does not believe in God or in Jesus Christ or in the Holy Spirit or in the word of God, then whom he will pray to? There are many Christians who do not believe in God. There is a reason why they do not pray.There are many people who believe in God and in Jesus Christ but do not worship them. There can be many reasons behind this. Some people do not pray to God because they believe that God will not have time for their problems. They think that there are so many people praying to God, asking his help, then how would he be able to help everyone. They think that even if he/she prays and requests God for help, his/her prayer will remain unanswered. So, there’s no use of prayer if you do not get the help. This is one of the reasons why many Christians do not seek God’s help through prayer. But they have no idea of God’s power. He can help everyone from everywhere.Many Christians are extremely busy with their life schedules, so they can not find time to come to church and pray to God. Most of such busy professionals prefer to offer prayers from their homes and remember god in a private setting.There are many such people in the world who themselves do not pray Bible verses but can quote them better than most Christians. They do not have a relationship with God. And prayer is all about having a relationship with God. Though they recite Bible verses, that doesn’t count as prayer because of no relationship with God.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for why do we pray then why not take a look at why do we need elections, or why do we need a government.
It is believed that prayer has the power to heal and ask for mercy from God.
