What's so important about Prayer?!?!?!

Prayer is always an interesting topic for Christians.  We tend to talk about prayer, ask each other for prayer, but at most churches the least attended service is often "the prayer meeting".  So, what is so important about prayer?!?!?!  Well Hebrews 4:16 is a good verse that reminds us that we are to: “...come boldly unto the throne of grace (come unto the Lord humbly) so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.”
 
So praying is reaching the throne of God.  It is not just the saying or the utterance of words.  Prayer is really getting in communication with our God!  It is not just lip service-saying a bunch of words in the correct order.  Prayer, as someone defined many years ago, is like playing tennis; you hit the ball over the net and your partner hits it back.  Well, in prayer you speak to God then you let Him answer, literally you listen for HIS response.  Surprising as it may seem, sometimes the Lord will answer your prayer, but HIS answer may not always be what you want.   Remember, sometimes He will say: “Yes”  Sometimes, He will say: “No” and at other times He may say: “Not Yet, I Have something better for you in MY time.”
 
Believe me, power in prayer is very much the gauge of our spiritual condition.  Prayer comes spontaneously from those who abide in Jesus; prayer is the natural "out gushing" of a soul in communion with Jesus. 
 
For the Christian, praying is supposed to be like breathing, easier to do than to not do. We pray for a variety of reasons.

• For one thing, prayer is a form of serving God (Luke 2:36-38) and obeying Him. We pray because God commands us to pray (Philippians 4:6-7). Prayer is exemplified for us by Christ and the early church (Mark 1:35; Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4; 13:1-3). If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we should also.
  
• Another reason to pray is that God intends prayer to be the means of obtaining His solutions in a number of situations. We pray in preparation for major decisions (Luke 6:12-13); to overcome demonic barriers (Matthew 17:14-21); to gather workers for the spiritual harvest (Luke 10:2); to gain strength to overcome temptation (Matthew 26:41); and to obtain the means of strengthening others spiritually (Ephesians 6:18-19).   We come to God with our specific requests, and we have God’s promise that our prayers are not in vain, even if we do not receive specifically what we asked for (Matthew 6:6; Romans 8:26-27). He has promised that when we ask for things that are in accordance with His will, He will give us what we ask for (1 John 5:14-15). Sometimes He delays His answers according to His wisdom and for our benefit. In these situations, we are to be diligent and persistent in prayer (Matthew 7:7; Luke 18:1-8).  Prayer should not be seen as our means of getting God to do our will on earth, but rather as a means of getting God’s will done on earth. God’s wisdom far exceeds our own.
  
• In other situations in which we do not know God’s will specifically, prayer is a means of discerning His will. If the Syrian woman with the demon-influenced daughter had not prayed to Christ, her daughter would not have been made whole (Mark 7:26-30). If the blind man outside Jericho had not called out to Christ, he would have remained blind (Luke 18:35-43). God has said that we often go without because we do not ask (James 4:2). In one sense, prayer is like sharing the gospel with people. We do not know who will respond to the message of the gospel until we share it. In the same way, we will never see the results of answered prayer unless we pray.

A lack of prayer demonstrates a lack of faith and a lack of trust in God’s Word. We pray to demonstrate our faith in God, that He will do as He has promised in His Word and bless our lives abundantly more than we could ask or hope for (Ephesians 3:20). Prayer is our primary means of seeing God work in others' lives. Because it is our means of “plugging into” God’s power, it is our means of defeating Satan and his army that we are powerless to overcome by ourselves. Therefore, may God find us often before His throne, for we have a high priest in heaven who can identify with all that we go through (Hebrews 4:15-16). We have His promise that the fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much (James 5:16-18).

​May God glorify His name in our lives as we believe in Him enough to come to Him often in prayer.