Why Do You Pray?

I was recently talking with a friend who posed a phenomenal question:

Are you praying just for comfort or because you expect God to answer?

I knew the correct response. I knew the Sunday School response. But the question kept circulating through my mind. Of course, God does comfort; but it occurred to me that the answer to her question depended upon what subject of my prayer life I applied it to…When it comes to praying for God to do things in other people’s lives, I tend to be more bold and expectant. I believe God can reconcile marriages, provide jobs, change the hearts of leaders, remove sickness, and bring prodigals home. That is just how amazing my God is.If I’m honest, however, I think I might come to Him less expectant when it gets into the nitty-gritty of my own life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m probably just like you. I pray more for my immediate family than I do for anyone else. Yet I think my friend might have hit the nail on the head with that question. In retrospect, for much of this time when I am in prayer over my family, I’m asking God to sustain me and strengthen me more than I’m believing Him to answer specific, bold prayers that would change the trajectory of the situation. My guess? I am inadvertently hedging my bets. If I pray too specifically, then I could be disappointed. If I ask God to simply comfort me and not really believe anything will change, then everything is safe.So, I turn the question to both of us. Aren’t we tired of playing it safe? Aren’t we tired of incremental improvements? What if we asked God to be God and fix the things that seem like they’ve always been broken? What would happen if we asked God to change hearts, change circumstances, and break generational sins… not simply to help us survive?Are you praying? If not, I encourage you to answer the question, “Why not?” Maybe similar to my hedging, you don’t ask because something you asked for long ago was not answered in the way you wanted. I beg you not to let one “no” keep you distant from a God who loves you intensely. Imagine if your child turned away from you because of one “no” that they didn’t understand. Tragic.If you are praying, what do you hope will be the result of your labor in prayer? What is one specific area that you pray over that you need to take to the throne with a different perspective and different urgency today?God is our Comforter, but let us ask Him to be so much more. I believe He longs for us to have an accurate understanding of His unlimited love and power, so that we will call upon His name to enter into every nook and crevice of our world and show His glory to us and through us. twitter | facebook