KEE IT; WHY IS DAILY PRAYER IMPORTANT?

Question: "Why is daily prayer important?"

Answer: Quite simply, for followers of Jesus Christ prayer is the best way to communicate with God. Prayer is the vehicle for daily dialog with the One who created us. The importance of daily communication through prayer cannot be overestimated. It is so important that it is mentioned over 250 times in Scripture. So why is daily prayer so important? First, daily prayer gives us an opportunity to share all aspects of our lives with God. Second, daily prayer gives us the chance to express our gratitude for the things He provides. Third, daily prayer provides the platform for confessing our sin and asking for help in overcoming that sin. Fourth, daily prayer is an act of worship and obedience. And finally, daily prayer is a way to acknowledge who is really in control of our lives. Let’s take a look at each of these important reasons in a little more detail.

Daily prayer gives us an opportunity to share all aspects of one’s life with God. Life’s circumstances change on a daily basis. In fact, things can go from good to bad to worse in a very short time. God calls us to bring our concerns to Him for disposition and potential blessing. He also calls us to share our joys and triumphs with Him. In fact, Jeremiah 33:3 states, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” God wants us to call on Him so that He can answer our prayers. He also wants to share with us incredible blessings that we might otherwise have missed had we not reached out to Him through prayer. And finally, James 4:8 tells us to “draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” God wants us to be close to Him at all times.

Daily prayer gives us the chance to express gratitude for the things in life that He provides. It is no secret that we must give thanks to the Lord for all the things that He provides and all of the things He does on our behalf. His goodness and lovingkindness to us should be recognized on a daily basis. In 1 Chronicles 16:34, we are commanded to “give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” The psalmist tells us in Psalm 9:1, “I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.” We pray on a daily basis to acknowledge His faithfulness and His abundant provision in our daily lives.

"GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART" 1 JOHN 3:19-24

1 John 3:19-24
We are saved by grace. Ephesians 2:5 says so explicitly. There should be no question on this fact. We are saved when and if God chooses to save us. Certainly we have duties and responsibilities, both before and after our sins are forgiven. But any Christian who thinks he has somehow earned a place in God’s favor by being baptized, preaching the gospel, feeding the hungry, or any other good “work”, he has no concept of the Bible’s teaching regarding salvation.

But still, we do have duties and responsibilities. And we fall short from time to time — not because we’re “human”, as is often said; that pushes the blame off on God, since He’s the One who made us “human”, warts and all. No, we fall short because we are weak. And if we have the idea when we come to the Lord that our weakness will wash off in the waters of baptism, we are quickly informed otherwise. And consciousness of sin leads to feelings of guilt; we know we have let God down, and that we have only ourselves to blame. Thankfully we have a Savior who will continue to forgive us when we continue to repent (1 John 1:7).