WHY DO WE PRAY?

Brightly Beams our Father’s mercy,

From His lighthouse ever more,

But to us He gives the keeping

Of the lights along the shore.

LISA BALLOT
 Title book: Why do we pray?
Author book: Lisa Ballot
© 2021, Lisa Ballot
Self publishing
Lisaballot314@gmail.com

N OTI CE OF C OP YRI G HT
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or
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except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other
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assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or
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Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, including international, federal, state
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Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility or liability whatsoever
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AUTHORED BY:
Lisa Ballot

EDITED BY:
Jane Campbell
Printed in South Africa
Available from Website and other retail outlets

First Printing Edition, 2021

ISBN978-0-620-96693-1
 Dedication
This book is dedicated with much thanks to the special people in my life.

To my parents thank you for your amazing guidance, love, and support
throughout my life. Thank you to my family for being my cheerleaders -
my husband Mark who is my head cheerleader and my children who
make me feel like I am Superwoman. A special thanks to my siblings for
their valuable insights.

I also want to thank my Christian family headed by our Spiritual leader

Reverend Advocate Kelvin Harris, who has always been there for me and
from whom I continue to learn about my Christian journey. My thanks
also go to the Bosmont Congregational Women’s Fellowship who are
prayer warriors of note.

Thank you, Aunty Jane for editing this book, for your patience, guidance ,
enthusiasm, and teaching.

Mostly I want to say thank you to God my Heavenly Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit, for leading me to write this book.
 iv

C O N T E NT S

Introduction ............................................................................................................1
WHAT IS PRAYER? ...............................................................................................5
CHANGING G OD’S MIND......................................................................................8
DISAPPOINTMENT..............................................................................................12
ACTIVE LY WAITING ...........................................................................................16
PRAISE PRAYERS ................................................................................................20
LESSON LEARNT..................................................................................................23
EPILOGUE .............................................................................................................26
JUMPSTART PRAYERS .......................................................................................28
 Introduction

Dear Reader

This book is the result of a prayer and faith crisis.

On the 6th of July 2021 l sat looking at my prayer journal wondering

about prayer and if it does anything or if it serves a purpose. I didn’t
write anything in my prayer journal.

On the 7th of July I was invited to the Intercessory prayer group

meeting to discuss their service for Sunday the 11th of July. At the
meeting I found myself offering to do the message and I provided a
theme, “Why do we pray?” I must admit I was surprised but kept
quiet.

Late Friday afternoon, on the 9th of July, I finally send a recording

to the church secretary - a recording because our church sanctuary
is closed due to Covid-19 lockdown rules and our services are held
over Zoom. This is the first sermon that has ever had me in tears,
and as I write the sermon and record, I am moved to tears and I must
restart several times.

After getting through the sermon I realized a few things: that prayer
matters to me; that my relationship with God matters and that when
there is a breakdown between God and me, I am lost. The
preparation of this sermon taught me the following: prayer can
change God’s mind; that it was okay to be disappointed with God;
that by voicing my disappointment and challenges with God I
recognized where I was spiritually at that point in time.

I could not stop thinking about the sermon and had the feeling that
there must be more to this subject. Reverend Harris commented on
the sermon saying, and I paraphrase “I like what sister Lisa said that
prayer changes God’s mind” and “that prayer causes enlightenment
and spiritual growth”. That same day on the 11th of July 2021, Sister
Ingrid, a member of our Intercessory Prayer Group called me to
discuss the sermon. She said it was very powerful and resonated
with her. This underscored my resolve to explore the subject further
and expand on the four pages presented in the sermon.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Lisa Ballot. l am a very active

Christian. l was a Sunday school teacher, l teach baptism classes, I
am a deacon, I am a member of our Women’s Fellowship and I am
the secretary of our Denominational Women’s Fellowship. I work
for one of the Top 4 banks in South Africa as a Communications
Specialist. Most importantly, l pray a lot! lt would seem odd that
with my Christian background and activity in the church, l
experienced a crisis in prayer and faith. This crisis in faith, with me
wondering if prayer serves a purpose or not, especially in light of the
pandemic which is taking so many lives, is what prompted me to
explore this question, Why do we pray? Why, indeed, do we pray if
there seems to be no answer to our immediate plight, Covid-19?

As everyone is aware Covid-19 has brought us to our knees. What

does this mean? Well, in Christian speak it means that we are on our
knees praying. l am sure you have received numerous prayer
requests. I have. Not that l mind, but l felt like l was inundated with
prayer requests. It felt like l was in over my head and just talking

2 | Why do we pray?
and talking to God without any real outcome. Answers to prayers
seemed to be random and nonsensical; almost hit and miss. l don’t
only refer to prayers for healing from Covid-19, but refer to prayers
against job losses, prayers to be healed from other afflictions and
prayers in general.

I found myself constantly asking, “Why do we pray?” and “Why am

I praying?” l also wondered if there was a correct way to pray.

I am writing this book to chart my journey as I discovered “Why we

do pray?” I hope you will enjoy this journey with me and find some
level of comfort if you find yourself in a prayer and a faith crisis.

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 Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my
Redeemer
(New international version)

4 | Why do we pray?
 Chapter 1

WHAT IS PRAYER?

The simplest definition of prayer is a conversation with God. Prayer

offers us a chance to engage with God because God is much more
reliable and listens more attentively than even one’s most
trustworthy friend.

If prayer is a conversation with God, then it should follow the

dynamics of conversation. What are the dynamics of conversation?

To illustrate the dynamics of conversation of speak – listen – speak.

I want to use the concepts from Teaching English Foreign Language
(TEFL). In TEFL we learn about TTT – Teacher Talk Time – STT –
Student Talk Time. As the teacher you must get to a point and
quickly where your student is talking more than what you are.
Through various methods and activities, the student learns to speak
English. Basically, the teacher explains concepts, encourages, and
prompts the student who must be able to hear, speak, and write the
language. The fundamental is that the teacher needs to listen more
than speak.

If we consider the TEFL techniques, then prayer is God’s way of

allowing us to speak while He listens. God prompts and encourages
and answers to correct errors or to provide rewards.

The Oxford dictionary defines conversation as illustrated below:

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Conversation (definition Oxford dictionary) /kɒnvəˈseɪʃ(ə)n/ noun; a
talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in
which news and ideas are exchanged

But what does a conversation with God look like? Well, it is different
to the conversations we have with people. Conversations with
people are either face to face, telephonic or via social media and in
writing. Conversations with God are mainly in one’s head unless
spoken out loudly to God, which we do when we pray publicly. We
can write our prayers down in a prayer journal but typically we do
not receive a written message from God. I cannot say that I have
heard God’s voice as such, but maybe some of you have. So, when do
we hear God’s voice?

For news and ideas to be exchanged between two people, they

cannot speak at the same time. One must listen while the other is
talking and vice versa. If both speak at the same time, it is called
arguing. When in conversation with God, when do I keep quiet and
listen and when does He respond to what I am saying?

How do I know what God’s response is? Am I sure it is God’s

response and not just my own mind making up the response? These
were some of the questions I was asking.

I feel quite frustrated when I hear that God is all knowing and that
He will answer in His time which is always the right time. I have
even used these words and they bring to mind the same question:
“Why am l praying or Why do we pray?”

lt is most frustrating when you ask a person a question and that

person does not respond. I get very upset with my husband when I
have asked him a question or to do something and he does not

6 | Why do we pray?
respond, not necessarily immediately although that is preferred, but
within a reasonable amount of time, like 30 seconds. I am just
kidding, but you get the point. Am I then being difficult to expect
God to answer within what I consider a reasonable period? What is
a reasonable period for God, after all He is God, and He has a whole
universe to see to and several billion people praying to him all the
time, expecting an immediate answer too?

God in His word says that we should pray to Him and He will hear
from heaven and answer us - Jeremiah 33:3. Here we have our first
answer to why we pray: God will respond to us!

He will hear from heaven and answer us! Knowing this, we as God’s
children are given the opportunity to literally speak our minds. Why
do we pray? We pray to speak our mind to the Almighty God, the
creator of heaven and earth.

Exodus 32:14
And Jehovah repented of the evil which he said he would
do unto his people.
(American standard version)

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 Chapter 2

CHANGING GOD’S MIND

I came to the realization that prayer changes God’s mind.

To illustrate the ability of prayer to change God’s mind the following

three examples were highlighted by God during my research for the
sermon as mentioned above. The conversations are between God
and Abraham, between God and Moses, and between Jesus and the
sisters of Lazarus. These conversations will show how prayer
changes God’s mind.

Abraham and Isaac

(Genesis 22: 1 – 19).

God is testing Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his much-loved

son, the only son that was given to him in his old age. I am sure that
Abraham was in conversation with God, throughout the 10 460km
journey from Beer Sheba to Mount Moriah. We are not privy to the
words of this deep conversation between Abraham and God as the
journey takes place in relative silence.

I propose that Abraham’s conversation was along the lines of:

“Surely God, You would not bless me with a child only to ask me to
kill the blessing? Please God, spare my child’s life.”

8 | Why do we pray?
God knew Abraham’s heart, but did Abraham know his own heart?
Was he prepared to do what was asked of him by God? I believe that
during that long silent journey, Abraham was presenting his case
and asking for another offering.

We know Abraham says to lsaac that God will provide the sacrifice.
Isaac was probably surprised when he was tied up and laid on the
altar. God seeing Abraham’s faith opens Abraham’s eyes to see the
ram for the offering. Initially Abraham is so consumed by the task
and his anguish that he does not see the ram in the thicket.

To conclude, this passage highlights Abraham’s unfaltering faith

and obedience to God, and that a sincere conversation with God or
a heartfelt prayer can change God’s mind to reverse the act He had
intended to do.

***********

Moses and God

The next scenario to illustrate the ability of prayer to change God’s

mind is through Moses’ conversation with God.

Moses had a fascinating relationship with God. I don’t think anyone

has had such a relationship with God before or since. Moses seems
to be able to tell God exactly what he thinks. I don’t think Jesus
spoke so frankly to God. This passage literally says God changed His
mind. The full passage is printed because no words can paraphrase
the conversation.

In Exodus 32:11 - 14 we read the following conversation between

Moses and God:

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But Moses begged the LORD, “his God, “LORD, don’t let your anger
destroy your people. You brought them out of Egypt with your great
power and strength. But if you destroy your people, the Egyptians
will say, ‘God planned to do bad things to his people. That is why He
led them out of Egypt. He wanted to kill them in the mountains. He
wanted to wipe them off the earth.’ So don’t be angry with your
people. Please change your mind! Don’t destroy them. Remember
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. These men served you, and you used
your name to make a promise to them. You said, ‘I will make your
people as many as the stars in the sky.

I will give your people all this land as I promised. This land will be
theirs forever.’ So the LORD felt sorry for the people. He did not do
what He said He might do—He did not destroy them. (ERV: Holy
Bible: Easy-to-Read Version)

The above conversation takes place after the Israelites had defiled
themselves by making a golden calf and worshipping it.

God not doing what he said He might do – not destroying the nation
is further evidence of the idea that prayer changes God’s mind.
Moses in conversation with God was able to reason with God so that
the Israelites were not destroyed. We can therefore reason with God
in all situations.

***********

Martha, Mary, and Jesus

Another scenario which illustrates the ability of prayer to change

God’s mind is through the conversation between Jesus, the Son of
God and Martha and Mary at the death of their brother Lazarus

10 | Why do we pray?
(John 11: 1-44). Here both Mary and Martha say to Jesus, “If you
were here, my brother would not have died.” Their relationship
with Jesus is so close that in humility they can express
their disappointment, their grief and devastation at the loss
of their brother. It’s not that they don’t believe that their brother
will rise again, because they do confess this. It is only that death is
so painful to deal with. Jesus is so moved by their grief and the
grief of those supporting them that He raises Lazarus to life.
The above is an example of how prayer changes Jesus mind to do
the unexpected or the opposite of what would be the norm.

As a Christian one may be feeling that why if I prayed did God not
change His mind and spare my loved one, like Lazarus, or lsaac or
the Israelites? We have seen many miraculous recoveries over this
period of Covid-19, yet these are overshadowed by the seemingly
excessive deaths of loved ones, friends and associates.

l hope that the chapter that follows will provide some answers or at
least food for thought.

Jonah 2: 2
In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and
you listened to my cry.
(NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION)

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 Chapter 3

DISAPPOINTMENT

I used these passages to illustrate disappointment in God: Matthew

26: 36 – 46, Mark 14: 32 – 42, Luke 22: 39 – 46.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

Jesus is the blueprint for prayer. He is in constant prayer with God,

going off by Himself to be in prayer to renew Himself and to
strengthen His spirit. Jesus teaches us how to pray, The “Our
Father.” He teaches us that we should pray. However, the fact that
we should pray and why we do pray are two different things.

In the garden of Gethsemane, we find Jesus distraught and praying

that if it is possible that He would not need to be put to death. This
is after knowing all His life that this day would come. Jesus came to
earth with the express mission to die for our sins. He was groomed
for 30 years before starting His ministry, yet 3 years later when the
time came, He was conflicted.

Jesus was crying from His entry into Jerusalem, yes, He was crying
for the people, but I feel He was crying for Himself too.

He was anxious about the events that would take place. There is a
lot of emotion during holy week: Jesus curses the fig tree and clears

12 | Why do we pray?
the temple. He spends two days teaching in the temple. He is
anointed by Mary, signifying His death and He is betrayed.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, He is so anguished and stressed that

His blood vessels begin to burst. Yes indeed, He says to His father
“Your will not mine” but He asks His father three times to let the
cup pass from Him. This to me is begging not to go through with
this horrific event. Exhausted and anguished Jesus goes through the
trial. He knows the outcome, but I am sure nothing prepares one for
a lashing from a Roman “cat-o-nine tails”, a beating and nailing to
a tree, not even God. As the pain hits and taunts ring in His ears and
disappointment takes hold, I can fully understand His cry “My God,
My God why have you forsaken me?” This is at about 1pm according
to the timeline (learnreligions.com). An hour later Jesus cries out
“Father into Your hands I commit my spirit.” What happened in
that hour? What caused the turnaround, from feeling forsaken by
His father to giving His spirit to His father? l believe that in that
hour, Jesus was in conversation with His father, a deep conversation
which changed Jesus perspective on the situation. l propose the
following conversation:

Jesus: “Why, my Father am l going through this? Why am l in pain?

Why, my Father am l suffering so for people who don’t know who l
am? Why are you not responding to me?”

God’s answer: “My Son, l know you are in pain and I know you are
feeling alone. l know that the world’s sins are on your shoulders. lt
is only through your sacrifice that the world can and will be saved
and that future generations will know me. l am with you, my Son. I
have never left you and I never will.”

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Jesus receives peace that passes all understanding. He becomes
comfortable with the situation. As He says goodbye to His mother,
He asks John the Disciple to look after His mother. He fulfills all
prophecies by saying “I am thirsty” and lastly He exclaims “It is
finished.”

This may not seem to be a happy ending, but let’s move on to Sunday
and the joyous resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Why do we pray? We pray so that we can move from a place of total

devastation to joyous resurrection - a journey of self-discovery of
enlightenment and fulfillment of purpose. We can become peaceful
with the situation we find ourselves in. Prayer is not just asking for
stuff; it is an active engagement with God. Deep conversations with
God enable our eyes to see the bigger picture and to see the life
beyond our suffering.

************

Lament

A further illustration that prayer moves us from devastation to

enlightenment is through the 42 Psalms of lament.

The canonical book of Psalms comprises approximately forty-two

psalms of lament, about thirty of which are individual psalms of
lament and the rest are communal. Most lament psalms have the
following typical features: invocation, complaint, request,
expression of confidence, and vow of praise. (Source: Dennis
Bratcher www.crivoice.org).

When things do not go right with us, or seemingly prayers are not
answered in the miraculous way we expect them to be answered, for

14 | Why do we pray?
example healing of a critically ill relative or friend, we feel deserted
and aggrieved. God’s word says that He will never leave us nor
forsake, yet Jesus felt like that albeit for a brief period. We too
sometimes feel forsaken and abandoned by God.

The feeling of abandonment is echoed in the following psalm,

Psalm 143: 4 – 12, a psalm of lament which starts with “I am ready
to give up, I am in deep despair.”

I am sure we can relate to this psalm and the feelings being

expressed by the psalmist.

Psalmists work through their feelings of abandonment by writing

down their laments, in each psalm, we note that God either comes
to their rescue or they are provided with an answer or they become
comfortable with their situation and go on. Each psalm has a
beginning, middle and an end. The psalm does not repeat and
repeat the lament.

Through the process of presenting our grievances to God we allow

God to come alongside us and journey with us through our troubles.
This is also a reason why we pray.

Isaiah 8: 17

I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the
house of Jacob. I will wait for him.

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 Chapter 4

ACTIVELY WAITING

In the scenarios mentioned above there are definite quiet periods in

these conversations. I know I said that it is because we don’t know
what conversations were taking place in Abraham’s and Jesus’
heads, but with Moses, Mary, and Martha there is a physical
conversation that takes place so the speak-listen-speak dynamic
plays out.

Most people pray because they expect a response from God. Moses
had a specific request, “Please do not destroy your people.” In this
scenario God gave Moses what he wanted. As for the sisters Martha
and Mary, I do not think they were expecting Jesus to raise their
brother from the dead. I think they were looking for some sort of
comfort from Him. However, God gave them much more.

God is the only being who can understand us completely, even when
we don’t understand ourselves. God knows everything about us,
even the things we want hide from ourselves. In prayer we can hand
ourselves over to God completely.

Just as Jesus railed against his father, we too can rail and rage
against God. God, I dare say is big enough to take what we can throw
at Him.

16 | Why do we pray?
We pray because we can let out all our dirty laundry and what is
great about prayer is that no one else will ever know, unless we want
them to know.

As we go on this journey of prayer it is important to be cognisant of

our prayers. In the scenarios used, these prayers were very specific.
Abraham definitely prayed for his son’s life; Jesus prayed for His
own life, but also for our lives. Moses had one goal in mind and that
was to save the Israelites. The sisters expressed their grief, each
wanting God and Jesus to know what they were feeling and what
outcome they desired.

When you are in conversation with someone you have a specific

message you wish to get across and would like a specific outcome.
The outcome may not be exactly what you are looking for, because
what you envisage and what is beneficial for you are two different
things.

It’s easy for us to dump our dirty laundry at the feet of God and just
move on to our next request, chore or to work or to converse with
someone else. When we pray and expect an answer from God, we
should be still and attentive, present our requests and wait. We
need to give God a time to answer, or at least give ourselves time to
hear the answer.

Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “Pray without ceasing.” The

definition of cease is “to bring to an end or to stop.” Scholars have
written that we should continue to pray no matter what. But it is
quite impossible to pray continually; we do have other things on
earth that we need to do.

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Yes, we can pray at any time of the day and that is good and well.
But if Jesus’ words are anything to go by, God does not like long
showy prayers, like those of the Pharisees. Prayers need to be
focused and clear, because if you are not clear and just shooting in
the dark then your answers will be unclear because you don’t
actually know what answer you are looking for.

Although we should pray without ceasing, rambling prayers are

boring. If it’s boring to you then it’s boring to God. I found that since
I started focusing on what I want to pray for or pray about, the
answers are becoming apparent and clear. These answers come in
the form of my eyes being opened to see and understand the
answers.

The chapter is entitled actively waiting. This sounds crazy. How you
can actively wait for an answer to prayer? Actively waiting for
prayers to be answered means that you should consider the answers
you are looking for and consider the answer that God is giving you.

You will find your answers in messages, be it from social media or in

sermons that you get to hear or read. The answer may come in the
form of a picture on your Whatsapp or a phone call from someone.

I have learnt to be actively quiet, to actively wait upon the Lord.

How do you actively wait? I make my mind still even in my prayer
time. I think about my prayers and about the spiritual messages
received. l also quiet my mind waiting for a response, giving God
time to answer. If I’m not sure about the response, I pray a short
prayer about the same topic. Then l become silent again.

God answers prayers according to His plans and purposes for our
lives.

18 | Why do we pray?
By pausing my long tirade of requests, wants and needs, I get them
into perspective. I don’t stop praying because there are many things
to pray for and pray about. I recommend having a prayer journal as
this allows for prayer tracking. By documenting and tracking our
prayers we can establish how our prayers have been answered.

We can speak at God or speak to God. We can speak continuously

and feel like our prayers are going nowhere. Or we can take time to
give God a chance to answer and thereby grow in our relationship
with God. Why do we pray? So that we can grow to listen to God’s
voice.

Praise God from whom all blessing flow,

Praise God all creatures here below,

Praise Him above the heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son

and Holy Ghost.

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 Chapter 5

PRAISE PRAYERS

When I started writing this book and preparing the sermon on which
this book is based, l was not in a frame of mind to be praising God.
All my prayers and thoughts were centred on my requests and my
disappointment in not understanding God’s answers to prayers.
Getting infected with Covid-19 did not inspire praise, instead I
became very irritated with God and the situation I found myself in.

At my final Covid consultation I spoke to my doctor, Dr Rasdien, I

mentioned that I was writing a book on Why do we pray? She said to
me that her husband says prayer is only for praising God. Dr Rasdien
and I have deep spiritual conversations; she has asked me to pray
for safety for her practice and she asked me to pray for her Aunt who
had also contracted Covid-19. Her 80 year old aunt beat the
infection. Our conversation on prayer being for praising only led me
to include this chapter in the book.

ln 1 Thessalonians 5:16 -18 it says Rejoice always, Pray continually,

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in
Christ Jesus.

The foregoing instructions implore us to give praise to God. It is,

however, very difficult to follow through with the above instructions
as prayers of praise are hard. In my opinion such prayers are the

20 | Why do we pray?
rarest form of praying that we do. Here l call myself out on this and
I know that many Christians profess to pray only to praise God, but
I can bet my last dollar that this is not the case.

We do pray to praise God, for it is easy to praise God when we are in

church and the music is vibrant and everyone is happy and singing.
It is easy to praise God when good things happen or when we see
miraculous healing. Even at funerals we praise God as we celebrate
the deceased person’s life. We celebrate what God has done for the
person, even though we mourn their passing.

As has been said, prayers of praise are hard; this is because when we
pray, our needs and wants are top of mind. In most of our prayers,
our immediate situation is always top of mind. lt is in our nature to
want and want more, like Abraham, Moses and Lazarus’s sisters who
were all focused on their immediate wants and needs. A bold
approach to God about our needs is a good thing, but it cannot be
the only thing. lt is also in our nature to complain. Although we
start off praising God, soon we start complain about our jobs or a
person or a family member.

But if we are constantly complaining how do we find something to

praise God for? We must try really hard every day to see the good
in our lives. We live in a world that tells us that what we have is not
good enough. Maybe it isn’t but what we don’t have should not
consume our thoughts and prayers.

I want us to consider the effects of positive of conversation. When

you are in a conversation and the other person compliments you,
the conversation is interjected with positive words and you feel
good about yourself. Now, when the position is reversed where you

| 21
are complimenting someone else and praising them for the work
they have done or on their achievement, you feel good too. You see
positive things all around you.

When we praise God for His mighty works, when we praise God
because He changed His mind in a certain situation, when we praise
God because He showed us why the answer did not go our way, then
we truly receive the peace that passes all understanding. When we
praise God we can understand our circumstances and we can rise
above our circumstances. When we praise God and look beyond our
circumstances, we can start to change our circumstances as we grow
spiritually.

I want to share this prayer of praise with you; Praise God from whom
all blessing flow, Praise God all creatures here below, Praise Him
above the heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. When
I find that I need to start praising, this is my fallback prayer of praise.

Why do we pray? We pray to praise God in all our circumstances.

All I have is thine, faithful I would be

may I by thy grace divine have fellowship with thee.

22 | Why do we pray?
 Chapter 6

LESSON LEARNT

We pray because the lessons learnt from praying are most valuable.
We can accomplish more than what we thought we could when we
pray.

To understand why we pray, I think before we start praying, we

should ask ourselves a few questions:

Do I believe that prayer works?

Do I believe that I am speaking to God and that He is listening to

me?

Do I believe in the answer that I want?

Why do I want to pray for this?

What is the purpose of this prayer?

l am saying we must psycho-analyze our motives for praying:

We can pray to manipulate God.

We can pray to fight with God because we are unhappy about a

situation.

We can pray for God to rectify a situation or change God’s mind.

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We can pray to understand a situation and how to deal with it.

We can pray to for anything and about anything.

Why do we pray is so that we can have a deeper relationship with

God and learn to know ourselves better on a spiritual level. I don’t
think we truly understand our spiritual nature until we get into
praying in the spirit and with spiritual intent. Prayers can be
superficial, and we can get through them unthinkingly. The “Our
Father” can become just a merry recitation. So, establishing why we
pray is personal. However, after all the words, we pray because no
matter who we are or what we believe, or even knowing that God will
answer in His way and His time, prayer still brings one a level of
comfort.

Prayer brings us to a place that is not of this world. Praying to God

helps us sort out our emotions, helps us sort out our surroundings
and situations. Prayer helps us resolve the things we cannot do on
an earthly plain. Prayer helps supernaturally. When we start to pray
regularly and as is said, ‘Prayer is the ultimate Christian weapon’,
we become good at it.

Generally speaking, weapons are used for self-defence and attack

when necessary. If prayer is our weapon, then like with all weapons,
we can only become good at it if we practice. We will not practise
shooting a gun in a haphazard way without controls because
someone may get hurt.

Likewise, when we pray, we need to pray responsibly. We need to

practise praying and we need to work at praying to become good at
it. The art of conversation is taught by our parents. God throughout
the Bible gives us lessons on how to converse with Him.

24 | Why do we pray?
 Numbers 6: 24 -27
The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’

“So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and

I then will bless them.”

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 Chapter 7

EPILOGUE

I have been wondering about intercessory prayer. I started this book

because of the numerous requests for prayers and finding myself in
a prayer crisis.

We can pray for others, called intercessory prayer, but when we are
praying for others, there are three of us involved: in essence, person
number one is me, then the Lord is second and the person,
community, industry, nation, etc. is the third person in the
conversation, or the subject of the conversation. The person being
interceded for also has a role to play as can be seen in the
intercessory prayer for the following person:

My friend Timmy, a vibrant energetic 63-year-old, recently retired,

sent me a message on the 2nd of January 2021 stating that she was
admitted to hospital with Covid-19 symptoms and it was bad. I
immediately started praying for healing for her. All the women in
our Women’s Fellowship, and members of the congregation started
praying. However, Timmy’s condition worsened and on 9 January
2021 she passed away.

The morning of the 9th of January 2021, as I was again in prayer for
my friend, I distinctly heard her voice in my ear saying, “If I have
seen heaven, why would I come back?” Yes, indeed, why would one

26 | Why do we pray?
come back? Although we were praying for Timmy to be restored to
us, Timmy had a conversation with God that led her away from us
and into Heaven. As devastated as I was to “lose” my friend, I am
comforted by the fact that she is in heaven and she is happy.

Our prayers may not yield the answers we are looking for and Covid-
19 has us on our knees, but on our knees literally or otherwise is a
good place for a Christian to be. In prayer we will find our paths to
God.

We pray because it is what we are called to do.

We pray because we need it!

We pray because our families need us to be praying!

We pray because it makes a difference!

We pray because when we are finished praying, we are called

to action and an active Christian is a Christian who is making a
difference in the world and in people’s lives.

May God Bless you indeed as you journey.

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 JUMPSTART PRAYERS

The Our Father is a great way to start praying. I have included four
variations of the Our Father.

‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, a
but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the Kingdom, the power
And the Glory,
Forever and ever.
Amen.

28 | Why do we pray?
The Message

Our Father in heaven,

Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes. (Source: www.ivpress.com: Connelly-2.pdf)

The New English Translation

Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored,
may your kingdom come,
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven
our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
(Source: www.ivpress.com: Connelly-2.pdf)

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The Jerusalem Bible

Our Father in heaven,

may your name be held holy,
May your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.
And do not put us to the test,
but save us from the evil one.
(Source: www.ivpress.com: Connelly-2.pdf)

The Jewish New Testament

Our Father in heaven!

May your Name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us the food we need today.
Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us. And do not lead
us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
For kingship, power and glory are your forever. Amen.
(Source: www.ivpress.com: Connelly-2.pdf)

30 | Why do we pray?
Prayers of praise and blessing

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all

that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end. Amen.

Daniel 2:23

I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:

You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.

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The prayer of Jonah is a good prayer to lean on in times of trouble.

Jonah 2 : 2 -9

In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From deep

in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and
the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept
over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look
again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened
me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my
head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath
barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from
the pit."

“When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my

prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to
worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. But I, with
shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I
will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’

32 | Why do we pray?
The Cover

It was a clear night and we could see the lights of Jeffery’s Bay. The
moon was exceptionally bright. My dad took the picture on the cover
in December 2012. We were on holiday in St. Francis Bay where we
have a family holiday home.

We were trying to get a picture of the moons reflection on the water,

but only after printing the picture did my dad comment that the
moon looked like an eye, God’s eye.

We chose this photo as the cover of the book because it evokes hope,
thanksgiving, and gratitude to God. Being able to witness God in
nature so dramatically automatically prompts a conversation with
God. Every time we see this picture, we pray.

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