What is Prayer, Biblically?

Some people call it talking to God, others will say it’s a waste of time. In this post, we will explore what prayer is according to the Bible and answer frequently asked questions regarding prayer.

[Disclaimer: inspiration has been taken from C.S. Lewis’s book ‘How to Pray’, which I highly recommend.]

So what is prayer according to the Bible?

According to Philippians 4:6 prayer is an honest conversation between God and us through the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that draws us to talk to God and in exchange for spending time with Him we receive peace and answers. Prayer is laying everything before God about what is in us, the good and the bad, not what we think ought to be in us or saying things we don’t mean. When we pray we should tell Him our concerns and doubts, but we should also praise Him and be grateful for what He has given us.

God gave us prayer as a way for us to communicate and deepen our relationship with Him because He loves us and wants us to spend time with Him. We can tell Him about everything going on in our lives and we should because He wants to hear it from us even if He already knows. But when we ask for things, when we are looking for answers we can’t expect it to happen all the time. God is no genie and prayer in this context is more of a request that God will either grant or refuse.

Except for the Bible, prayer is the closest connection we have to God since Jesus walked the earth.

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:7

You may think it’s presumptuous to bring our concerns before God and pray to Him but God actually wants us to do so. He knows us more than we know ourselves so is very much aware that our minds can become cluttered, chaotic messes. When we lay everything before God, it helps us to process our thoughts and feelings in a safe environment and makes us less likely to take them out on others. Prayer helps keep our minds clear and open to Him.

The main purpose of prayer may be talking to God and growing our relationship with Him, the fact that it helps us keep our minds clear is just a bonus and honestly, I believe God wants that for us. When our minds aren’t clear we can push Him aside so easily (and sometimes even if they are) and God wants our focus to be on Him as much as possible.

“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”
1 Chronicles 16:11

If God already knows what we need why should we bother to pray?

God exists outside of time, He is infinite and wise. He gave us the ability to have an impact on this world physically as evidenced by the climate crisis. And just as He gave us the ability to impact the world in this way, our prayers can also have an impact. The difference is that prayers are not guaranteed to work because God can grant and refuse them as He sees fit.

I can hear you saying ‘Okay, prayer doesn’t mean a miracle will happen but that still doesn’t tell me why we should bother praying if God already knows everything?’

Let’s look at it this way, if you went to a fortune teller (do not do this, they are demonic) and asked to find out if something specific say that book you want to publish one day would happen and they said yes. You couldn’t expect that to happen without putting in the effort and working hard to make it happen. Then one day you publish that book. In that timeline, the fortune teller was the catalyst to making your dreams come true but you could’ve done it on your own without going to find out if it would happen.

Prayer is similar, it could be the catalyst for an event occurring but you may not know it. Unless you prayed for a miracle then you would know it because answered prayers can often be reasoned to have occurred by natural causes. Prayer might be the one thing that causes it to happen, that’s why we should bother to pray.

But there is also work involved. Work and prayer are connected just like weeding and praying for a good harvest are connected. Most of the impact we have is through the work we do so if we wanted a good harvest, yes we can pray for it but those weeds aren’t going to remove themselves. So by weeding we work towards the goal of a good harvest with intention. If we just prayed we really would be asking for a miracle. So while it is good to pray at the same time we should also be working towards making whatever goal it is a reality. Like if we want to get closer to God we need to be intentional in spending time with Him and not just pray about it.

“The Lord is near all who call out to him, all who call out to him with integrity.”
Psalm 145:18

Can prayer be proven to work?

It already has been countless times, we just don’t hear about a lot of them. We already know that God will either grant or refuse plans but just because it seems like a refusal doesn’t mean it is. God knows everything, He knows what is best for us and when the best time to do things is. Sometimes the answer to prayer is delayed because it is not the right time, other times it’s refused because we aren’t ready for it or He has something better planned. But what we can trust in is that when God answers a prayer it is not confined to earthly limits, if you prayed for a mountain to move God could make it so and even move the whole range. Sometimes we forget just how powerful prayer is.

Some examples of answered prayer are:

In 1 Samuel 1:9-20, we read about Hannah, a woman who longed for a son but was barren. She prayed often for a son and after promising to give her son to serve God in the temple her prayer was answered. Samuel grew up to be one of Israel’s great prophets.

You may have heard of the wisdom of King Solomon, well that wisdom came from a humble prayer asking for wisdom and he was blessed with more than he probably expected. You can read that tale in 1 Kings 3:5-14.

You may also have heard the story of Jonah and the whale, more accurately known as Jonah and the big fish. Anyway, while he was in the belly of this creature he was distressed, to put it mildly, so he prayed to God and promised he would fulfil his vow to share the gospel with the people of Nineveh. God answered his prayer and he was spat out of the big fish onto the shore. You can read the story in Jonah 2:1-10.

“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
Exodus 34:14

Another example of answered prayer is from Moses in Exodus 32. Now Moses had been up Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God, but while he was up there the Israelites got impatient and made an idol out of gold in the form of a calf. So God was rightfully furious and intended to destroy the Israelites for their sin and make another great nation from Moses. Moses, however, interceded on their behalf and pleaded for mercy, God relented and let them live although not without punishment later which is fair.

So, yes, prayer is proven to work and those were just a small number of the many occasions throughout history. An example of a time when prayer was refused appears in Matthew 26. On the night of Jesus’ betrayal, he was in the garden of Gethsemane and he prayed for the cup to pass from him three times. We know this didn’t happen because later that night he was handed over to the Pharisees and from there to Pontius Pilate and then to his death. Yet had his death not occurred we would not be in the position we are today and able to receive salvation through Jesus. It is a small comfort to know that even Jesus, who was perfect and suffered through so much, even he had unanswered prayers.

Well this post is turning out longer than expected and I’m nowhere near done so I’ll make a part two which you can expect to be published next week. I hope this post was enlightening and has helped you to understand prayer better. Until next time have a blessed week.