Why Pray?

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.                                                                                        Jeremiah 29:12

As I was making my morning visits with the elders, stakeholders and families, I was asked this question by a family member, “Why bother to pray.” She was struggling with the fact that her mother’s medical condition continued to decline, in spite of many prayers that were being said for her mom. I explained to her why I pray. ” I pray because prayer opens up the blessings of God’s grace and power to flow to the person or the need.” God in his sovereignty allows us to be a part of his work thru prayer. I certainly believe in the power of prayer, and have seen God move mountains thru prayer in my own life. I think so many times we get discouraged in our prayer life because we don’t get instant results, and we fail to trust in God. This reminds me of something I once read about a worker in a cotton factory. There was a sign that read, “If your thread gets tangled, send for the foreman.” A new worker got her threads tangled. The more she tried to untangle them the worse tangled they got. Finally, she sent for the foreman. He asked, “Why didn’t you send for me earlier?” She said, “I thought I could take care of it myself, and I was doing my best.” He answered, “No, your best would have been to send for me.”  When we face tough times in our life, the first thing we need to do is pray and ask for God’s help. So, “Why bother to pray?” Because God wants to be our helper and be a part of our life each and every day thru prayer.

Father, Thank you that we can come boldly before your throne of grace and call upon you, knowing that you will always hear our prayers, Amen.