Why Is Prayer So Important?

What Makes Prayer Such an Essential Activity?

For a long time, I felt largely guilty for not having a more active prayer life. I felt a nagging feeling of failure after reading accounts of famous saints praying for two hours or more every day. I used to make it a habit to pray more. But the resolutions failed to hold.

I suddenly became aware that something had changed. I was aware that I had a prayer life, albeit I wasn’t quite content with it. I’m certain that my prayer life still needs improvement. However, compared to before, I pray much more. And I’ve attempted to consider the reason why. What altered? Of course, on one level, my prayer life is a result of God’s grace. He is given credit. Yet God employs methods. Our emotions, wants, habits, and ideas are not disregarded by the activity of the Spirit. No, he is active in and through each of these facets of who we are.

I can name five specific internal occurrences that often prompt prayer.

1. Waiting

Augustine wrote in The Confessions, “You made us for yourself, and our souls won’t be at peace until they rest in you.”

My life in one prayer is Augustine’s well-known prayer. As a young kid, I experienced desire for the first time. I recall listening to lovely music that gave me mixed emotions. It sparked desires that I wasn’t aware I possessed and for which I had no names. The yearnings became stronger as I grew older.

We’re all affected in some manner by this existential pain. In The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis wrote about this need and called it “the purest measure of our real circumstances.”

Of course, the issue is that we often misunderstand the thing for which we really want it. With personal accomplishment, sexual gratification, meaningful connections, the amassing of nice things, and other people’s praise, we attempt to quench our thirst. We turn away from the spring of living waters and strive to fill empty, broken cisterns with water (Jeremiah 2:13). But the pain continues. And one of the main catalysts for praying is that pain. According to the Psalmist,

“I have no one else in heaven except you. And I have no other desires in the world besides you.God is the strength of my heart and my everlasting portion even if my body and my heart may fail ” (Psalm 73:25-26).

2. Guilt

Guilt is the second catalyst that prompts me to pray. Not feeling bad if I don’t pray is what I mean. I’m talking about the guilt I feel for having sinned against God and others.

In one of his letters, Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, “None but God knows what an abyss of depravity is in my heart.” Everyone who has a true understanding of their own heart may concur.

I think I’ve prayed confessional prayers the most of any other kind. Psalm 51 and the other penitential psalms have really benefited me. These psalms serve as a reminder that we do not have to wallow in shame or remain in our sins, coupled with the promises of divine forgiveness. God, be compassionate to me, a sinner. We may pray with the tax collector in Luke 18:13.

3. Pressure

The stress of trying and terrible situations has probably been the greatest aid to my prayer life. The biblical term for it is “trial,” but we refer to it as stress.

Our situation may sometimes seem nearly intolerable. We get a sinking sensation. Because of this, one of my favorite prayers in the Bible is spoken by Peter as he is being swept away by the waves: “Lord, rescue me!” (See Matthew 14:30). It is succinct, straightforward, and direct. But for someone in need, it’s sufficient.

Trials are, in one sense, stressful. However, they may also help us become more reliant on our father if we can accept them as tools in his hands that are meant for our benefit. In the verses of the traditional hymn “Welcome Cross,” written by William Cowper,

Trials bring me to God’s knees; they make the promise delicious; they give prayer fresh energy; they lay me down and hold me there.

4. Love

Love is another driving force that inspires prayer. I’m thinking in particular about love and compassion for others. When he urged them to pray for him (Romans 15:30), Paul appealed to the love of the Rome believers, a byproduct of the Spirit’s work in their hearts. The best catalyst for intercessory prayer is love.

I have a front-row seat to people’s most pressing needs and issues because I am a pastor. I often feel unqualified to address their needs. But I’m discovering that the greatest way to show them that I care is to pray for them and ask the One whose riches in Christ are beyond limit to provide for their needs.

5. Thank you very much

Gratitude is another factor that encourages prayer. I ought to be much more appreciative than I am. As M’Cheyne, whose poem “I am a Debtor” I previously cited, put it,

Then, O Lord, will I completely understand—not until then—how much I owe? When I stand before the throne, dressed in beauty not mine own, when I see thee as thou art, I love thee with an unsinning heart.”

Like M’Cheyne, I am aware that I am not fully aware of how much I owe to the compassion and mercy of the Lord. But every now and then, usually after a new realization of my sinfulness and the Lord’s unending love and compassion in my life, I get a glimpse, and my appreciation overflows into joyous praise.

Gratitude, love, guilt, worry, and longing. These sensations are not special in any way. This is the same material that our entire interior lives are made of.However, I have gradually come to see that my beginning point for prayer should be these commonplace emotions.

If you want to improve your prayer life, just start where you are.

Does a deep longing for something greater pulse through your soul? Ask God for help. Do the misdeeds from yesterday still leave marks on your conscience? Deliver them to Jesus. Do you worry about the wellbeing of a loved one? Concerned about how you’ll pay your bills this month? Your heart should be completely open to the Father.

Start there, no matter where you are or what you are facing. You will develop a prayer life if you bring your needs before the seat of grace.