Why Pray?

Bill Brown Xiamen University
"Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray..." Jesus, in Matthew 6:8,9 "你们不可效法他们。因为你们没有祈求以先，你们所需用的，你们的父早已知道了。所以你们祷告，。。"马太福音

Why Pray? When Jesus said that our Father knows what we need before we ask him, he could have said, "So no need to pray," but instead he taught how to pray, for Jesus himself prayed often. But why ask God for what he already knows we need, and is willing to give him? Because prayer is more than asking; prayer is conversation with my Father.

Sadly, we call God our Father, but rarely talk to him except when we need something or are in trouble--like the child off in college, perhaps. He's less a Father than a rescuer, or a Heavenly Santa Claus. But we need to do more than just ask for things. We need to converse with Him. So our Father waits for us to ask before giving because prayer is two-way communication with our Father, our Creator. It is the time to turn inwards, for as Christ also said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."

How Not to Pray In Matthew 6:7, Jesus said to not pray like the pagans, who "think they will be heard because of their many words." We don't need to talk loud and long arguing our case like a lawyer before a court, or like the elderly lady in Nanputuo Temple endless bowing and mumbling, hoping to placate an ancestor or deity or demon. We don't need to worry about using the right words or forms or rites and rituals. Simple, heartfelt communication (which includes listening) is sufficient.

How to Pray In Matthew 6:6. Jesus said, "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." "你祷告的时候，要进你的内屋，关上门，祷告你在暗中的父，你父在暗中察看，必然报答你。" Prayer is not a time for public display of our piety or spiritual ascendancy (though there are of course times for public prayer), but the opportunity for one-on-one time with our Father. Prayer is the eye of calm in the midst of the maelstrom of modern life.

When you Pray... After discussing why and how to pray, Jesus taught the Lord's Prayer. Even this men have reduced to a magic formula, and repeat it as if in and of itself it will cover all bases and guarantee our success. But Jesus did not say to pray those words. He said "this is how you should pray."
Of course, there is great wisdom and beauty behind the Lord's Prayer (first addressing God not as some spirit or power or principle but as our personal Father, and going on from there!), but it is a guideline, not a formula.

All These Things... Our Father knows what we need before we ourselves know, or ask--but we still need to ask, because we need that time of communion with our Father--and He wants it as well. And it does not have to be prayer on our knees or in the closet. We can, like the 17th century French monk Brother Lawrence, converse with our Father throughout the day as we go about our Father's business, for this in itself is a form of prayer. But we still need the "quality time" alone. So do take time during the day to find a quiet place, look within, and listen to the still, small voice who knows us, and our needs, better than we do. And Jesus promised that if we seek Him first, "all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33 "你们要先求他的国，和他的义。这些东西都要加给你们了。" 马太福音6：33

Why Should It [Prayer] Be Necessary?
George MacDonald (from C.S. Lewis' Anthology)
"But if God is so good as you represent Him, and if He knows all that we need, and better far than we do ourselves, why should it be necessary to ask Him for anything?" I answer, What if He knows Prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God's idea of prayer be the supplying of our great, our endless need-the need of Himself? . . . Hunger may drive the runaway child home, and he may or may not be fed at once, but he needs his mother more than his dinner. Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other need: prayer is the beginning of that communion, and some need is the motive of that prayer. ... So begins a communion, a taking with God, a coming-to-one with Him, which is the sole end of prayer, yea, of existence itself in its infinite phases. We must ask that we may receive: but that we should receive what we ask in respect of our lower needs, is not God's end in making us pray, for He could give us everything without that: to bring His child to his knee, God withholds that man may ask.
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