The Who and What of Prayer

Okay here it is. The promised blog post on prayer. The purpose of this entry is to tackle important questions on prayer with the Word of God. I'm sure that many of you know the answers to these questions, but they are great reminders for all Christians. But just so you know, just because I'm posting this does not mean my prayer life is where it should be. I normally write about things that I am struggling with or being taught right now. In all honesty, my prayer life is far from what it should be.

Anyways, onto the outline of the post:

Who should pray?

John 15:7- "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it will be done unto you." If you are a believer on Christ, you are able to pray to your Father in Heaven. Isn't that amazing? But if Christ does not dwell in your heart, than the Lord will not hear your prayers. This surprised me a while ago. I just assumed God hears the prayers of everyone. But Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Make sure your sins are confessed and your heart is right, or the Lord will not hear your prayers. But His people should pray. What kind of relationship would you have with your best friend if you never talked to him/her? God's people should be praying. What if His people did pray as much as they should? Well, we'll get to that in a little while.

What should we pray for? Normally, when I run to God in prayer, it's because I want Him to fix a problem. Or I pray because I feel like I have to. But what should we really pray about?

*We should pray and repent of our sins. "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." -Matthew 4:17

*We should be praying and thanking God, and praising Him. Psalm 100:4 tells us, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name."

*We should be praying for wisdom. James 1:5- "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

*We can ask for what we desire. Luke 11:9-10-"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

*We should be praying for others. "Pray for one another, that you may be healed." Jam 5.16b

There are so many other things we should pray about! When we have problems, for our futures, for guidance in knowing God's will, and just because!

Here's a challenge: On this post, come up with more things we should be praying about and verses that correspond with them, and post them under the comments. Let's see how many we can come up with!

Here are the first two questions. We also are going to tackle when, why, how...and all those other questions. But those will be put in a separate part. For now, take the challenge! See how many reasons you can come up with to pray! And then share them with us! I'll be getting to part two soon enough!