Why I Pray

I ran across a treasure trove last Friday while looking for a local business. In a manner of “coincidence” I stopped by the library to ask for directions. There on the front porch receiving no one’s attention were six boxes of used books. Not being a person who can pass up a possible “find”, I edged over with hopeful expectation. Picking up the first book I was delighted to discover it was a Christian title, so was the next and the next. I had stumbled onto the castoffs of a church library. “They are free, take a box full” the librarian said. I obliged her. It’s the kind of discovery that makes you wished you had a three day vacation in a quiet little town with a good coffee shop and homemade sandwiches.

Among the “finds” I walked away with was The Normal Christian Life, The Calvary Road, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret and The Revival We Need. Treasures one and all. But the one that won the prize for first read was How I Can Make Prayer More Effective by Herbert Lockyer. He reminds me, “The Church was born in prayer meeting; and living in such an atmosphere, she turned the world upside-down (Acts 1:14). Read the book! Whenever the saints prayed, something happened.” And of praying with others, “It has been said that a man is only half of himself, his friends are the other half of him. How true this is in respect to prayer. There are times when a person can labor on his own; at other times a team is needed.”

I’m not sure I’m all that effective in prayer, but I pray anyway. Here are a few reasons why:

I pray not because God gives me everything I want but everything I need.
I pray because He does it on His timetable not mine.
I pray because I cannot not pray.
I pray because if I didn’t the rocks, trees, stars and whales would cry out.
I pray because I want to be near God.
I pray not because it will change the world but because it will change me.
I pray because I believe.
I pray because somewhere in the corridors of eternity I will understand.
I pray because Jesus prayed.

The Harer Ladies at the Chris Tomlin Concert

Above: Concert Stage

Top: Stained Glass Window at Cathedral Cafe in Fayetteville