Why Pray If God Already Knows What You Need?
Why Pray If God Already Knows What You Need?
Week 4, Day 3
If God knows everything, has all power, and has a good will that He wants to accomplish in your life and through your life, then won't He just do it whether you ask Him or not? Why does He want you and me to pray about something if He's going to do what He wants to do anyway? Have you ever had thoughts like that?
Part of the answer is that God has not only a good, perfect, and acceptable will that He wants to accomplish in your life and through your life, but God has also ordained the means by which He is going to bring that to pass.
For example, a farmer could say, “Well, you know what, God has all power, and if God wants to, He could just cause that cotton crop to grow whether I plant anything or not.” And the truth is, that's correct—God could do that. But God has chosen that if He wants there to be a harvest of cotton, the means by which that will happen is for the farmer to plant cotton. So a farmer has to plant cotton to bring about a harvest of cotton.
Just as God has ordained the means of sowing and reaping in the physical world to bring about His purposes, so in the spiritual world God has chosen the means by which He gets His good and acceptable and perfect will done in and through your life. That means is prayer. The means is you asking Him.
You could compare prayer to spiritual sowing and reaping: If you want to reap God's will, you must pray and ask Him for it.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:8-9:
Part of the answer is that God has not only a good, perfect, and acceptable will that He wants to accomplish in your life and through your life, but God has also ordained the means by which He is going to bring that to pass.
For example, a farmer could say, “Well, you know what, God has all power, and if God wants to, He could just cause that cotton crop to grow whether I plant anything or not.” And the truth is, that's correct—God could do that. But God has chosen that if He wants there to be a harvest of cotton, the means by which that will happen is for the farmer to plant cotton. So a farmer has to plant cotton to bring about a harvest of cotton.
Just as God has ordained the means of sowing and reaping in the physical world to bring about His purposes, so in the spiritual world God has chosen the means by which He gets His good and acceptable and perfect will done in and through your life. That means is prayer. The means is you asking Him.
You could compare prayer to spiritual sowing and reaping: If you want to reap God's will, you must pray and ask Him for it.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:8-9:
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’
Jesus says your Father already knows what you need before you ask Him, but here's how you need to ask Him. You see, God has ordained the means of prayer by which He gets His will done in and through your life.
In the same sermon, in the next chapter, Matthew 7:11, Jesus said: If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
And James 4:2 says, You do not have because you do not ask God. So if God knows everything, why does He want you to pray? Because prayer is the means by which God accomplishes His good, acceptable, and perfect will in your life.
In the same sermon, in the next chapter, Matthew 7:11, Jesus said: If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
And James 4:2 says, You do not have because you do not ask God. So if God knows everything, why does He want you to pray? Because prayer is the means by which God accomplishes His good, acceptable, and perfect will in your life.
APPLICATION:
Prayer is the means by which God brings about His will in and through your life.
- Ask the Lord to lead you to pray for the things He wants to do in your life.
- Ask God to lead you to pray about things He wants to do through your life.
- Ask the Lord to accomplish His will in and through our church through our “Advancing the Kingdom” emphasis.
Posted in Advancing the Kingdom Daily Devotionals