Why Are Prayers So Important To Us?

God speaks to us through His Word, and He asks us to speak to Him through prayer. Prayer is asking God to open the heavenly doors and windows over us. Prayer gives us access to our heavenly Father who knows what we need even before we express that need to Him. Jesus said, "Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him" (Matthew 6:8).

The repeated prayers of Abraham for the salvation of Sodom and Gemorrah present an early example of the benefit deriving from praying. Moses prayed 40 days and 40 nights, seeking to stay the wrath of God against Israel, and his example and success are a stimulus to present-day faith in its darkest hours. Elijah repeated and urged his prayer seven times for the rain cloud to appear above the horizon, heralding the success of his prayer and the victory of his faith. On one occasion, Daniel though faint and weak, pressed his case for three weeks, then, the answer and the blessing came.

The parable of the importunate widow is a classic of insistent prayer. It tells us that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. This parable stresses the central truth of importunate prayer. The case of the Syrophoenician woman which was a remarkable instance of insistence and perseverance to ultimate victory. Her heart was in her prayer.

God waits patiently, day and night, for his people to cry out to him. He is moved by their requests, by the importunate praying of his people. He rewards their prayers by granting the burden of their plea, in plenitude and finality.

"Ask, and ye shall receive. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. These are the ringing challenges of our Lord in regard to prayer. His intimation that praying must stay, and advance in effort and urgency, till the prayer is answered, and the blessing be sought and received.