Why Pray 5

Prayer deepens our relationship with God as we talk to Him about the things going on in our lives. When praying we find encouragement in our faith. When we pray together with other believers we grow in our faith with God.

When you pray together with other believers, you are connecting with God directly and indirectly at the same time.

When we pray together in fellowship, we connect to other believers who are, at the same time, connecting with God. Praying with others deepens our connection with God and others at the same time. Praying our spouse and family is one of the best ways to build unity and intimacy in our marriages. Strangely enough, we connect best with the believer beside us, not when we both are pointed towards each other, but when we are both pointed upwards towards God. 

It is hard to harbor resentment towards your neighbor when you are praying for them.

When we pray for our enemy who has wronged us, we demonstrate our forgiveness by asking God to bless them. When Jesus said to pray for those who persecute you, He is giving us the starting point for harboring forgiveness rather than hatred towards those who do us wrong. Especially for the person we are currently unwilling to forgive, the act of us praying for them can be the starting point for building a positive connection between us and them. Praying for others does not include asking God to smite them, but rather asking God to bless them and forgive them even if we can't at the moment. Remember that God has already forgiven us of the great debt of our sin and truly pray for our enemy, not at them or against them. 

In as much as possible, God wants us to be at peace with the world, praying for those who persecute us and letting God work on the hearts of mankind.