Why Should I Pray?

If God’s will is going to be done in my life, then why am I praying?

This year, I had been praying very hard for God to work out some stuff in my life. But it seemed He always answered me with a “no” and I kept telling myself it wasn’t God’s will. So very quickly a question arose in my head, “If God’s will is going to be done, then why am I even praying?” 

Even after I’d made my peace with my specific problems, that question didn’t leave. Although I never stopped praying, I didn’t quite know why I was doing it.

A few weeks later, I asked a friend my question. Honestly, I was expecting her to say something like, “Because God said to pray, you should pray.” or something like that. I wasn’t expecting her to give me a satisfying answer. But she told me that prayer isn’t just a time to ask God for stuff, but it is also a time to surrender those things to God and humble ourselves before Him.

This little, basic piece of information that she gave me completely changed my approach to prayer.  Instead of asking, asking, asking and then being confused and sometimes hurt when God said no,  I started surrendering all my cares, worries, and concerns to Him and trusting Him with the results.

I know this may seem basic to you, and it was for me too! But my friend also reminded me that our faith IS basic! We are the ones that make it complicated when it doesn’t need to be that way! I was expecting a long, complicated answer or formula, when all along, my answer was to remember to simply surrender.

How have you always viewed prayer? Do you have any prayer requests? Share in the comments!