Why do we pray ??

Here's an interesting question eh?? Why do you pray?

We know that we are called to pray . We know that the Word tells us to fashion all our worries into prayers. We know that we are called to pray without ceasing. We know that we are to pray about everything.

So, why don't we pray? Why does an individual, or a church, or a city, not pray? Let's look at some of the reasons that cause people not to pray.

Let's look at the individual:

From the beginning we can see the tactics employed by the enemy ( thru a religious spirit I might add), are in the Garden of Eden. Satan comes to Adam and Eve and questions them about what God said to them, " Did God really say........" They became deceived into thinking that God could not have meant, what He said to them. By changing their understanding of what God said, the enemy convinced/persuaded them to question and eventually doubt God's word! They literally rejected what God said - believed it to be not true . They denied that they would die if they ate form the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now remember, up until that point they didn't know 'death'....so the enemy probably used their innocence against them on that subject, but nevertheless, they chose to reject what they heard God say..and believe a more appealing deception.

Now..in this, the enemy succeeded not only in defiling their belief in God's word, but he also ruined their relationship with Him. Why? Well, they were no longer able to talk face to face with God.

Altho some people may not think the spirit used against them was specifically a religious spirit, let me explain why I believe it was. The same spirit that Satan used, closely parallels what the religious spirit uses today - it causes us to relate to and HEAR God differently than we should!

So, we know that from the beginning Satan has been working to rob God's people of not only hearing God's voice, but trusting in God's word to us! We pray and we learn to pray, so that we can once again learn to hear His voice...and obey. We pray because we are redeeming that relationship that was stolen from us through deception. We pray because we long to walk and talk with God our Father. We pray because we know that He still longs to speak to us, His children. He has plans and purposes, strategies and revelation that He is longing to show us, teach us, reveal to us. We pray because He longs to have that relationship of intimate conversation and 'relating' restored. Remember, that Jesus came SO THAT we could have relationship with the Father. Thru one man the intimate relationship with the Father was lost, and through one man, that same relationship is now restored - the way to the Father!

If we don't pray...we don't hear His voice...we don't know His heart. We will walk independent of Him - doing life according to what we think He wants, instead of the confident security of knowing that we have heard Him . If we don't pray, we are acting like Orphans - doing this life as fatherless children, who have to survive on their own. The truth is, the Word says He will not leave us a orphans, but will make us sons and daughters.

And true sons and daughters are in contact with their Father. They know His voice, His heart, His desires, His love for them. We pray because it means we have dialogue with Him who desires to share Himself with us.

So...knowing that....why would we not pray??