Sermons/Discussions

“Why Pray When God Already Knows What I Need?”

Article from the Spring 2004 Shepherd's Pen

The Rev. Matt Kennedy

The Church of the Good Shepherd

“Please pray for me.” How many times have you made this request? When believers are discouraged, in need, anxious about the future, or insecure about the present a prayer request comes naturally, almost thoughtlessly, to our lips.

But what do we believe about prayer?

“I think prayer changes us more than it changes God's mind,” said a friend of mine recently. She was right. Nothing we say can change God's mind. God's mind is not limited like ours. God is omniscient and omnipotent. He knows all that there is to know about all things past present and future and he has ordained all that has and all that will come to pass. There is nothing you know that God doesn't know already and better. He knows exactly what you are going to say before you say it and he has known it from before the creation of the Universe. As King David says, “Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord.” (Psalm 139:4)

So why pray? I mean if God already knows what he is going to do in a particular situation and he has known from the very beginning why even make the effort to express our needs and desires?

Well there are three reasons:

First and foremost prayer strengthens your relationship with God. Just like any relationship, communication is key in your relationship with Jesus Christ. If you never share your experiences, your hopes, fears, anxieties or expectations with your wife or husband, then your relationship will never mature. You might live in the same house, watch the same television, parent the same children and call yourselves by the same last name but if you never communicate, if you never share yourself with your spouse, then you're just sharing an address. Jesus doesn't just want to frequent the same building with you every Sunday, he wants to know you intimately and he wants you to know him. A daily personal prayer-time during which you pour out all that is on your heart and mind is the first step to building an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Second, my friend was right, prayer does change you. When you go to God in prayer, you open the deepest part of your being to the Holy Spirit “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-12) When you pray, you allow the Spirit of God to work in you in ways so deep and so fundamental that most times you cannot even perceive or imagine what he has done or what he is doing until you wake up one day and realize that you are a completely different person. A consistent disciplined daily life of prayer is a life opened and receptive to hearing God's voice and experiencing God's power. Prayer transforms you. Little by little, through prayer God's perspective, God's desires, God's loves and God's plans are imparted and implanted in your mind, body, and spirit. Your will is slowly transformed to be more and more like God's will. The things you want become more and more like the things God wants for you. And when you want what God wants for you, your prayers of supplication will always be answered positively, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

Third, Prayer is very often the vehicle through which God's plan for you is brought to fruition. This happens in two ways.

One: God has determined that the prayers of his people will be one catalyst for his power on earth. When Peter was thrown into jail for preaching in Jesus' name, the remaining believers prayed that the Lord would come to his aid. In the middle of the night an angel of the Lord unlocked Peter's cell and led him to the very house where his friends were praying for his release (Acts 12:1-17).

Prayer is as powerful today as it was back then because when you pray you appeal to the very same God. He can and does intervene in the lives of his people. God restores marriages, provides work, heals physical illnesses, resolves interpersonal conflicts, breaks addictions, and overcomes seemingly immovable obstacles all through the prayers of his people. If you invite him, God will daily intervene in the nitty-gritty details of your life and sometimes in one day, sometimes over many years, will completely transform the material and spiritual landscape in which you live. God does this for all believers because he has determined to use our prayers to accomplish his eternal purposes.

What does this mean practically? When you feel the need or desire for something (so long as it is something that is not contrary to God's revealed will in the bible) pray to God and ask him for it. It may be that God has given you the desires you are experiencing in order to drive you to pray so that he could use your prayers to accomplish his purpose. God's plans and purposes, though determined from before time, include your sanctified desires and your prayers.

Two: Sometimes God uses your prayer-time time to speak to your heart about something. He may have a mission for you. He may want you to confess and repent of something you've done or are doing. He may want to comfort you after the loss or a loved one. Or, he may just want you to know how much he loves you. He can and will communicate these things to you through prayer. How do you know when God is speaking to you? Well, that's a subject worthy of many more pages. It will have to wait for another article. But if you'd like some guidance on hearing God's voice you might want to get online and check out the sermon series entitled “Knowing God's Will” on the website. Here's the address:

http://www.binghamtongoodshepherd.com/sermons.shtml .

You will find the series listed under sermons delivered in July 2004. If you are not online you can always request copies from the church office.

Your prayers are valuable and powerful in God's sight. They deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ; they open your heart and soul to the transformational work of the Holy Spirit; and they serve as vehicles for God to work powerfully in your life and the world. So pray for yourself, pray for the world and the nation, pray for your friends and family, pray for the Church of the Good Shepherd, and, please, pray for me.