Hello everone,
I was wondering what the purpose of prayer is.
Thank you and
Blessings
Dani
Off the top of my head, I believe that prayer is:
Spiritually, Prayer is like physical exercise in that:
Love it!
Thank you for your explication 
The answer itself is simple; Because the Bible tells us to pray and make our requests made known to God. Jesus modeled the proper template for prayer (Lord’s prayer) and in James 5:16-18 it says “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”
I understand that this is not the answer you are seeking, but are wondering why anything matters if God has everything decreed before-hand? Those are good questions and many have attempted to explain them. In my opinion, both answers are too extreme, as one reduces the power of prayer to nothing, and one implies we can change God’s mind by how much faith and fervency we possess. Though, I think there is room for some middle ground. Though if I had to pick one, I would error on the side that our prayer doesn’t actually do anything, we just line up our desires with the Father’s will. There is much biblical evidence for this aspect of it. But, there is also biblical evidence to suggest that prayer is only received from the righteous. I believe there are some Psalms that say the Lord does not hear the prayer of the wicked and is far from them. However, that is probably because the wicked would never request something in line with God’s will. Still, the problem is if we think that God will do whatever he is going to do no matter what, then we might be tempted to not pray… I see that as a negative aspect, though it is all only hypothetical.
The main reason I pray is to become more compassionate and loving so that I may take it to others.
Certainly if it’s His will. Paul told us to pray without ceasing and there are many encouragements to pray in the bible. Jesus prayed often, sometimes getting up before dawn to pray.
If Jesus prayed do you think we should?
@Steve I think we shoud pray but I am not really sure about the reason.
I mean if God is our father then of coures it is great to communicate with Him but why?
Once I heard an atheist say someting like that: a reason why atheism is superior is because if there is a plane accident you as a theist could believe that you should have prayed harder so that the accident could have been avoided whereas an atheist believes that it was just an accident and does not have to have a bad consience.
I do not believe that “praying harder” would convince God to not let the accident happen or better say change God’s mind or make Him intervene.
Should prayer not help us to cope with situations like that to still trust in God that He will lead all things to a good end?
And not dispair if tragedies happen?
Should prayer not help us to cope with situations like that to still trust in God that He will lead all things to a good end?
And not dispair if tragedies happen?
Dani
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:30 pm
I think knowing God’s character is what will give us hope that he will make things work out for the best for those who love him. Praying is simply talking to God and we also can ask for his help with many things in our life and for others we care about. God is not just a concept, He is a real being who we should want a relationship with. To do that we need to talk to Him. There is nothing about praying hard in the bible, just praying or talking to God is a good thing.
Well said Steve!
Reword your question as follows, and I would answer, “Yes.”
Gabe quoted the verses which indicate God does such things:
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (James 5:14-18)
Do you think God would have sent that drought in Elijah’s day anyway even if Elijah had not prayed? And would God have sent the rain later anyway? I think not.
However, prayer is not like a magic spell by which you can call up a genie and get 3 wishes granted. God does what He likes.
But when we make our requests known to Him, and sincerely ask Him to answer, He sometimes does. God wasn’t compelled to answer Elijah’s prayers. There are Biblical records of cases when He didn’t grant requests made in prayer.