Why We Pray
About two years ago, my daughter woke up before her bedtime was finished, tiptoed out to the front room of our apartment, found me with a bible in my lap, my hands folded, and my head bowed with my eyes closed. She tapped me on the shoulder and asked me the question… “Daddy, why do you always pray?” The question gave me great joy because it reminded me that my daughter is always watching and that my spiritual life was evident to her. It brought me great joy, but it also brought me great embarrassment, because to be completely honest– I was not praying. My head was bowed, my eyes were closed, and I may have even been muttering something, but I was not praying. I was asleep.
Having been startled awake by her question, not realizing I fell asleep, I launched into my best attempt at a 5AM theological rationale for petitioning the Almighty that a toddler might understand. After which, I learned that my daughter was not asking “why we pray” but why I pray when I could play with her.
As we launch into a new series as a church that we are calling “Echoes of Devotion”, my hope in this short blogpost is to answer both the question I thought my daughter was asking (why we pray), and the question she actually was asking (why not just play?) with greater thoughtfulness than I did at 5AM that day…
So, why do we pray? Is it worth our time?
That’s the primary question we should ask before dedicating seven weeks to growing in prayer. Nevertheless, it’s a very difficult question to answer in the first person plural. ‘Why do we pray?’ The question assumes that ‘we’ all pray for the same reasons, and it would be an incredible presumption for someone to act as a representative of all people of prayer throughout time and space. I’m sure many would be offended if I tried.
The reality is that people pray for a variety of different reasons:
Some pray for what it recognized as a medical benefit: Dr. David H. Rosmarin, assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, has said that the research that has been done on prayer shows: It can calm your nervous system, shutting down your fight or flight response. It can make you less reactive to negative emotions and less angry.
Some pray because of the potential to create relational harmony: A number of studies at Florida State University show that when people pray for the well-being of their spouse when they feel a negative emotion in the marriage, both partners—the one doing the praying and the one being prayed for—report greater relationship satisfaction.
Still, others pray because they believe that the physicality of our universe is not all that there is. That there is a spiritual reality beyond us and that through prayer we might have some form of communion with it/him/her that would affect our lives and the greater world that surrounds us.
According to Rabbi Abraham Heschel, Prayer seems to be an instinctive part of human nature. He writes, “Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.” Living comes with the surprise of beauty which inspires awe, a feeling of fear and wonder that often finds its place in prayers of praise. Living comes with the surprise of gratitude which finds its place in prayers of thanksgiving.Living comes with the surprise of brokenness and pain, as we mourn death, broken relationships, hostility and hatred. In those moments prayer finds its place in petition, asking a higher power to intervene and transform this world into the future place of peace that we long for. In the Christian tradition, we pray a simple phrase, “that things would be on earth as they are in heaven.”
Now, I’m not saying that one of these reasons is necessarily better than another, that they might not be combined in some way for some people, or that there are even only these reasons why people pray.
There have been many throughout the centuries who have made claims about prayer in seeking to unify humanity, but in doing so brought about greater animosity.
There have been those who claimed that all religions are the same, and we are merely praying to the same God in different ways, but this has been taken as an incredible offense especially by America’s indigenous people like Handsome Lake (religious leader of the Iroquois) or Tenskatawa a religious leader from the Shawnee Tribe, who both argued that “religious universalism” was yet another attempt of the west to colonize their people. To these leaders, saying our prayers are all the same is “an attempt to whitewash varyings religious practices, imposing the perspective of western pluralism, and erasing the boundaries of people’s decision making.” The Iroquois and the Shawnee chose their methods of prayer not because they believed it was one way to worship the same God, but because they believed they each were worshiping the true god(s) in their way.
Similarly, many Buddhists take issue with the statement that we all pray to the same God, as most forms of Buddhism do not pray to or believe in a personal deity. And in Christianity, we hold the words of Jesus to be true that Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6).
So again, to claim to be able to answer the question, “Why do we pray?” and respond for all prayers would be narcissistic, hubristic, and deeply flawed.
With that said, speaking for Christians, we do have a reason to pray. And if you are seeking or hold to a different faith, I hope that as you read this that you might find beauty in the explanation I lay out and continue your journey toward seeking the beautiful truth that I and my fellow christian brothers and sisters have clinged to. Please know that any failure in accuracy or beauty is not from my tradition, but from me, a broken messenger.
As followers of Jesus we pray because we want a deeper relationship with our God.
In the Christian tradition, prayer is not simply a technique for acquiring blessings, but for interacting with our blessed God. In the words of Mother Theresa, “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”
For us, the primary goal is relationship, and it is based on what might be considered one of the most preposterous propositions that Judaism and Christianity have confessed for millenia; that the God of the Universe actually cares about us.
The most common prayers of the Jewish tradition begin with the words “Baruch atah Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha'olam” (Blessed are you, our God– king of the universe). That last word is incredibly important, ha’ olam, not Ha’Eretz (as though he is King only of the land), not Ha’adamah (as though he is simply King of the earth). He is Elohenu Melech Ha’olam, our God– king of the universe.
Have you ever taken the time to ponder over the preposterousness of this claim? The diameter of the observable universe is 93 billion light years. To put this into perspective–
Imagine the universe is like a gigantic beach, stretching endlessly in all directions. Our Milky Way galaxy would be just one grain of sand on that beach, and Earth would be like a tiny speck stuck to the side of that grain of sand. Now, picture this beach not just being one beach, but part of an infinite shoreline, with each grain of sand representing a galaxy. That's the scale we're talking about! In this vast cosmic beach, our little planet is just a speck, barely noticeable, and the God of all of this cares about our lives on this speck on the side of a grain of sand.
We believe the God of the Universe, one who is bigger than the shoreline, has an interest in knowing us and cares about our good.
In one of the primary source documents of Jesus’ life, written by a doctor named Luke, Jesus is recorded as sharing the following parable:
“There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary. For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’”
Then the Lord [Jesus] said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Through Jesus’ teaching in this short story, we find some ingredients to prayer that should shape our prayer lives in a variety of ways:
The story shows the importance of Persistence in Prayer. Just as the widow kept coming to the judge, we should persistently bring our requests before God. Demonstrating our faith and reliance on Him.
The story emphasizes trust in God's Justice. The unjust judge eventually grants the widow's request not out of concern for justice but to get rid of her persistence. In contrast, God is just and compassionate. So if even an unjust judge can be moved by persistence, how much more will a just and loving God respond to the prayers of His people?
The story demonstrated Faith in God's Timing. Sometimes our prayers may not be answered immediately, but this parable encourages us to keep praying and trust in God's timing. Just as the widow had to wait for justice, we may need to wait for God's timing in our lives.
And the story reiterates that prayer is about Relationship with God: It’s not just about asking for things. The widow's persistence shows her dependence on the judge, and our persistent prayers demonstrate our dependence on God. The reality is, not every prayer we pray is answered in the way we desire for it to be.
How many Hebrew women prayed for the deliverance of their sons from Pharoah’s genocide? But only Moses is recorded as having been saved. Job prayed for his trials to cease, and yet he continued to experience loss. Jesus’ followers prayed for the release of the twelve apostles and yet all were executed or died in prison. We make a mistake though if we claim that the Lord did not answer these prayers.
The famed Argentinian preacher, Luis Palau once said– God answers EVERY prayer in 1 of 5 ways:
1. No, I love you too much.
2. Yes, I thought you’d never ask.
3. Yes, but not yet.
4. Yes, and here’s more.
5. Yes, but differently from what you thought
So why do we pray, we pray because we want to be in a relationship with the God of the Universe who cares about us, and who we trust will answer us. This is why we pray.
There are many forms of prayer in the christian tradition… For example there are spontaneous prayers, scriptural prayers, and liturgical prayers. I want to conclude this blog post with a liturgical prayer, a prayer from a book that is now almost 500 years old called The Book of Common Prayer. I would love for you to consider praying this prayer, though it is normally read in the evening, and I try to pray it each night, I think you can pray it at any point in the day. Consider how you might say these words to our Lord, reflect on them, recognize the opportunity of joining with centuries of a multitude of saints in pleading:
"Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Jesus Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen."
This blog is adapted from a presentation delivered by Pastor Eric at the National Day of Prayer Breakfast on May 2, 2024, hosted by the Chicago Sunday Evening Club. The talk addressed the topic, "Why We Pray?" and explored the underlying reasons and significance of prayer in contemporary society.
Having been startled awake by her question, not realizing I fell asleep, I launched into my best attempt at a 5AM theological rationale for petitioning the Almighty that a toddler might understand. After which, I learned that my daughter was not asking “why we pray” but why I pray when I could play with her.
As we launch into a new series as a church that we are calling “Echoes of Devotion”, my hope in this short blogpost is to answer both the question I thought my daughter was asking (why we pray), and the question she actually was asking (why not just play?) with greater thoughtfulness than I did at 5AM that day…
So, why do we pray? Is it worth our time?
That’s the primary question we should ask before dedicating seven weeks to growing in prayer. Nevertheless, it’s a very difficult question to answer in the first person plural. ‘Why do we pray?’ The question assumes that ‘we’ all pray for the same reasons, and it would be an incredible presumption for someone to act as a representative of all people of prayer throughout time and space. I’m sure many would be offended if I tried.
The reality is that people pray for a variety of different reasons:
Some pray for what it recognized as a medical benefit: Dr. David H. Rosmarin, assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, has said that the research that has been done on prayer shows: It can calm your nervous system, shutting down your fight or flight response. It can make you less reactive to negative emotions and less angry.
Some pray because of the potential to create relational harmony: A number of studies at Florida State University show that when people pray for the well-being of their spouse when they feel a negative emotion in the marriage, both partners—the one doing the praying and the one being prayed for—report greater relationship satisfaction.
Still, others pray because they believe that the physicality of our universe is not all that there is. That there is a spiritual reality beyond us and that through prayer we might have some form of communion with it/him/her that would affect our lives and the greater world that surrounds us.
According to Rabbi Abraham Heschel, Prayer seems to be an instinctive part of human nature. He writes, “Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.” Living comes with the surprise of beauty which inspires awe, a feeling of fear and wonder that often finds its place in prayers of praise. Living comes with the surprise of gratitude which finds its place in prayers of thanksgiving.Living comes with the surprise of brokenness and pain, as we mourn death, broken relationships, hostility and hatred. In those moments prayer finds its place in petition, asking a higher power to intervene and transform this world into the future place of peace that we long for. In the Christian tradition, we pray a simple phrase, “that things would be on earth as they are in heaven.”
Now, I’m not saying that one of these reasons is necessarily better than another, that they might not be combined in some way for some people, or that there are even only these reasons why people pray.
There have been many throughout the centuries who have made claims about prayer in seeking to unify humanity, but in doing so brought about greater animosity.
There have been those who claimed that all religions are the same, and we are merely praying to the same God in different ways, but this has been taken as an incredible offense especially by America’s indigenous people like Handsome Lake (religious leader of the Iroquois) or Tenskatawa a religious leader from the Shawnee Tribe, who both argued that “religious universalism” was yet another attempt of the west to colonize their people. To these leaders, saying our prayers are all the same is “an attempt to whitewash varyings religious practices, imposing the perspective of western pluralism, and erasing the boundaries of people’s decision making.” The Iroquois and the Shawnee chose their methods of prayer not because they believed it was one way to worship the same God, but because they believed they each were worshiping the true god(s) in their way.
Similarly, many Buddhists take issue with the statement that we all pray to the same God, as most forms of Buddhism do not pray to or believe in a personal deity. And in Christianity, we hold the words of Jesus to be true that Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6).
So again, to claim to be able to answer the question, “Why do we pray?” and respond for all prayers would be narcissistic, hubristic, and deeply flawed.
With that said, speaking for Christians, we do have a reason to pray. And if you are seeking or hold to a different faith, I hope that as you read this that you might find beauty in the explanation I lay out and continue your journey toward seeking the beautiful truth that I and my fellow christian brothers and sisters have clinged to. Please know that any failure in accuracy or beauty is not from my tradition, but from me, a broken messenger.
As followers of Jesus we pray because we want a deeper relationship with our God.
In the Christian tradition, prayer is not simply a technique for acquiring blessings, but for interacting with our blessed God. In the words of Mother Theresa, “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”
For us, the primary goal is relationship, and it is based on what might be considered one of the most preposterous propositions that Judaism and Christianity have confessed for millenia; that the God of the Universe actually cares about us.
The most common prayers of the Jewish tradition begin with the words “Baruch atah Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha'olam” (Blessed are you, our God– king of the universe). That last word is incredibly important, ha’ olam, not Ha’Eretz (as though he is King only of the land), not Ha’adamah (as though he is simply King of the earth). He is Elohenu Melech Ha’olam, our God– king of the universe.
Have you ever taken the time to ponder over the preposterousness of this claim? The diameter of the observable universe is 93 billion light years. To put this into perspective–
Imagine the universe is like a gigantic beach, stretching endlessly in all directions. Our Milky Way galaxy would be just one grain of sand on that beach, and Earth would be like a tiny speck stuck to the side of that grain of sand. Now, picture this beach not just being one beach, but part of an infinite shoreline, with each grain of sand representing a galaxy. That's the scale we're talking about! In this vast cosmic beach, our little planet is just a speck, barely noticeable, and the God of all of this cares about our lives on this speck on the side of a grain of sand.
We believe the God of the Universe, one who is bigger than the shoreline, has an interest in knowing us and cares about our good.
In one of the primary source documents of Jesus’ life, written by a doctor named Luke, Jesus is recorded as sharing the following parable:
“There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary. For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’”
Then the Lord [Jesus] said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Through Jesus’ teaching in this short story, we find some ingredients to prayer that should shape our prayer lives in a variety of ways:
The story shows the importance of Persistence in Prayer. Just as the widow kept coming to the judge, we should persistently bring our requests before God. Demonstrating our faith and reliance on Him.
The story emphasizes trust in God's Justice. The unjust judge eventually grants the widow's request not out of concern for justice but to get rid of her persistence. In contrast, God is just and compassionate. So if even an unjust judge can be moved by persistence, how much more will a just and loving God respond to the prayers of His people?
The story demonstrated Faith in God's Timing. Sometimes our prayers may not be answered immediately, but this parable encourages us to keep praying and trust in God's timing. Just as the widow had to wait for justice, we may need to wait for God's timing in our lives.
And the story reiterates that prayer is about Relationship with God: It’s not just about asking for things. The widow's persistence shows her dependence on the judge, and our persistent prayers demonstrate our dependence on God. The reality is, not every prayer we pray is answered in the way we desire for it to be.
How many Hebrew women prayed for the deliverance of their sons from Pharoah’s genocide? But only Moses is recorded as having been saved. Job prayed for his trials to cease, and yet he continued to experience loss. Jesus’ followers prayed for the release of the twelve apostles and yet all were executed or died in prison. We make a mistake though if we claim that the Lord did not answer these prayers.
The famed Argentinian preacher, Luis Palau once said– God answers EVERY prayer in 1 of 5 ways:
1. No, I love you too much.
2. Yes, I thought you’d never ask.
3. Yes, but not yet.
4. Yes, and here’s more.
5. Yes, but differently from what you thought
So why do we pray, we pray because we want to be in a relationship with the God of the Universe who cares about us, and who we trust will answer us. This is why we pray.
There are many forms of prayer in the christian tradition… For example there are spontaneous prayers, scriptural prayers, and liturgical prayers. I want to conclude this blog post with a liturgical prayer, a prayer from a book that is now almost 500 years old called The Book of Common Prayer. I would love for you to consider praying this prayer, though it is normally read in the evening, and I try to pray it each night, I think you can pray it at any point in the day. Consider how you might say these words to our Lord, reflect on them, recognize the opportunity of joining with centuries of a multitude of saints in pleading:
"Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Jesus Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen."
This blog is adapted from a presentation delivered by Pastor Eric at the National Day of Prayer Breakfast on May 2, 2024, hosted by the Chicago Sunday Evening Club. The talk addressed the topic, "Why We Pray?" and explored the underlying reasons and significance of prayer in contemporary society.
Posted in Pastor Eric Targe