The Importance of Prayer: 7 Meaningful Reasons

Let us peruse the Bible from the Old Testament to the New and discover the importance of prayer.

Prayer might be a common thing for Christians but we still might have questions about it, especially about its importance. Do we still need to pray when God already knows everything about us including the things we are about to pray for?

It is okay to ask questions because it shows that we care and that we want to improve and know more. We are here to help you gain a better perspective on prayer and the reason why prayer is important.

What is the Importance of Prayer?

Imitation 

Jesus Christ is our role model and we are His disciples so it is only right for us to do as He did and live as He lived. One of the things Jesus gave a lot of importance to is prayer. He would often go to quiet places before sunrise to pray. If we want to follow Jesus, we should make prayer a habit.

Impression 

When we talk to someone regularly, we get used to their presence, their reactions, tone, emotions, and a lot of other things. When we talk to God regularly, we get used to Him, His presence, and His ways even if we do not see or hear Him. We can see clearly how He works in our lives.

Insight 

Have you ever considered the possibility of prayer helping us become wiser? We can give credit to the Holy Spirit but there have been times when I prayed and then I realized just how silly my request sounds. Or other times when I would suddenly have an insight into how to deal with things.

Maybe God calls us to the best path or it may also be the benefit of putting our thoughts into words or maybe it is a combination of the two. What I am sure of is that our heavenly Father is always there to help us.

Invitation 

Prayer is a conversation with God and it helps us get closer to God. God wants us to be open to Him and pray as Jesus prayed. We can ask God for help or forgiveness through prayer. Also, we could pray to God to share with Him everything that happened throughout our day.

We spend time in prayer to spend time with God. It is the time we set aside just for Him. God’s love for us allows us to be as open to Him as possible. The Lord listens to all of our prayers and He is inviting us to spend time with Him.

Instigation 

The Bible tells us that God’s power is boundless and that He answers our prayers. Our daily prayer is important because it is our communication with God. Prayers can move mountains because of God’s help. No matter what our situation in life is, we should always pray.

Prayer can set or change the tone of the day

There are a lot of things in this world and in our lives that are out of our control. But, no matter what happens in our day, we always have the option to pray. The beauty of talking to God is that we can do it silently because He can always hear us.

Whenever our day turns crappy or we woke up on the wrong side of the bed, we can pray to realign our perspective, our mood, and ultimately, our day. Let us pray, ask for wisdom, give thanks, and build a good and healthy relationship with God.

It’s an act of obedience

If we look at the life of Jesus. He never commanded something He did not do Himself. He commanded us to love one another, love our enemies, partake of the Holy Communion, and so much more. Jesus did all of these things Himself. Another thing on this list is prayer.

Christians should know the importance of prayer because Jesus Himself did it. And, as always, God promises rewards for those that obey and does as He teaches. If we call ourselves followers of God and we have been told that we should pray and Jesus even modeled it for us and taught us how it is only right that we obey.

What does the Bible Say about the Importance of Prayer?

The Bible is full of stories of people who knew the importance of prayer and they used prayer in different ways and at different times in their lives. Abraham prayed regularly and one of the things that stand out is his discussion with God for the sake of Lot and his family when God declared that he will destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Samson had a colorful life and at the end of a tragic story called his life, he prayed and asked God to give him enough strength to bring down his enemies. We can read about the heartfelt prayer of forgiveness David wrote in Psalms 51.

We can also read about how Jesus prayed an intercession prayer for His disciples and would-be disciples in John 17. Prayer can be used to ask God for things we need, to ask for forgiveness, or just to have a conversation with Him.

If we look at the model prayer Jesus left for us in Matthew 6:9-13, we will see that it is all centered on God and not people. Bottom line is, prayer is worship and we should always remember this when we pray so that we do not misuse the privilege of talking to God.

How Important was Prayer to Jesus?

From the moment Jesus started His ministry, His life quickly became quite hectic. He healed the sick, exorcised demons, taught, and raised the dead. Those are pretty big things and I imagine it took up quite a lot of His time. Still, Jesus always found the time to find a quiet spot, leaving everyone and all His responsibilities for a while, and then praying to God.

After a long day of healing and feeding the people, instead of resting or curling up somewhere with His favorite book, He chose to spend time in prayer. Jesus knew it was important that He bore His soul and heart to the Father regularly. And with how His ministry turned out, I would say that prayer played a crucial role in the spread of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God.

Inspiring Bible Characters who Made Prayer a Priority

Moses

God had been very gracious, good, and faithful to the Israelites but they had always found something to complain about or a way to displease God. As their very first leader since they were freed from slavery, we can only imagine how stressful Moses’ job must have been. These people know nothing about freedom, about being responsible for themselves, and most of all, they were terrified.

They expressed their fear and confusion into anger and they pointed it most often in Moses’ direction. Being a leader comes with stress but being a leader of confused and frightened people comes with stress so huge. How did Moses handle all of it? He prayed.

When the Israelites complained, Moses prayed. The Israelites melted all the gold they owned and turned it into a calf to worship, Moses prayed to Yahweh, begging Him to forgive His people. Moses also prayed to God whenever he felt exasperated with how the Israelites were acting.

One thing I appreciate about Moses’ prayer life is that he never held back anything from God. He expressed his frustration, his fear, and his concerns. He bared anything and everything to God. God knows him inside and out so there was no point in hiding how he was feeling.

Moses used prayer to talk to God, intercede for other people, and to ask for guidance. Moses was one of the most prayerful leaders in the Bible and if we take into account his successful leadership, despite some shortcomings and failures, we can see the power of prayer.

Daniel

Daniel had quite a traumatic childhood. Their country went to war with Babylon and they lost. Some higher-ups in Babylon decided to take young men, bring them to Babylon, and train them so that they might serve the empire. Daniel was one of the chosen ones to bring back to Babylon.

Throughout his life in Babylon, Daniel never forgot about God. Instead of being mad at God for everything that happened to him, he clung to God harder than ever. He risked his life once when the king forbade anyone from praying to anyone but Him.

Daniel could not abide by that. He was praying three times a day at this point and he refused to pray to the king even if it meant death. He was thrown into the den of starving lions armed with nothing but prayer and confidence in God.

God heard his prayer. The important thing to note here is that Daniel knew exactly what he was doing and he knew exactly who he was praying to. Because of his faith, he was not only spared, the king started to believe that God is the one true God.

David

From his youth, David had been prayerful and he never changed. He faced Goliath with confidence that could have only come with a healthy relationship with God. His faith was so firm in the face of a behemoth because he said that God has always given him the strength to defend his father’s sheep.

David knew God and he knew God’s heart and that was how he managed to achieve incredible things including having the humility to respect and show loyalty to Saul even after the king tried to kill him multiple times. David is called a “man after God’s own heart” and no one can earn that honor if they did not spend time building a relationship with God.

Why should we Pray when God already knows what we will say?

God knows everything, right? Even the psalmist in Psalms 139:4 sings that God knows what we will say before we say it. So, why do we even pray to God if He already knows what we need and what we will say? What is the point of saying something someone already knows?

God commanded us to pray and He has promised us great things if we call unto Him but this command is one of those things that God does to make sure that we are taken care of. Parents tend to develop this “sense” when it comes to their children.

Children can be silent about things but parents tend to know or sense when something is not right. They wish their children would talk to them and tell them what is wrong because watching their child suffer is suffering for parents. The same goes when we need to ask for their forgiveness.

We can show that we are sorry through our actions but an apology will go a long way. I believe these are some of the best reasons why prayer is important. God loves us so much and He wants to be included in our lives. He wants to hear from us when things go well and when they do not.

We have also been instructed to ask for forgiveness through prayer. Our prayer life connects us to God, the source of life, hope, and love. Prayer gives us access to the one true God in the whole universe. Daily prayer helps us if nothing else, to sort out all the stuff life throws at us.

In Summary

I believe God loves us so much that even the act of praying is more beneficial to us than to Him. Imagine having a long day at work and you feel like the slightest thing will set you off and it sucks feeling that way. Out of nowhere, you hear a voice telling you to pray and you do. Was it not instant relief on your part?

Having someone to listen to anything you say is a blessing, is it not? Knowing someone is always in your corner and someone always has your back is comforting to an incredible degree. Nothing in the day changed, no words spoken have been taken back, and no actions have been replaced by something better but still, YOU felt better.

Every relationship needs communication and the same goes for our relationship with God. We have to nurture this relationship by giving time and effort to expressing our feelings, concerns, joys, and so much more. We hope that you found that prayer has many vital benefits and they are all for you.