What’s the Point of Prayer?

Written by Daniel Manilla

Have you ever wondered why we even bother to pray? I grew up deeply believing that God miraculously answers prayer. Every day I would read in the Bible about God’s work through Moses, Jesus healing seemingly everyone he touched, and Paul’s prayer bringing a young man back to life. My family worked as missionaries in Central Asia, and our sending organization had a strong charismatic bent; our friends would constantly tell amazing stories of the Spirit freeing people from demons, causing lame people to walk, and healing every sort of sickness and disease.

And I saw none of it. Not from lack of trying—I would pray frequently for miraculous healing and truly expected it to happen. I’d ask God to speak clearly through supernatural circumstances. But despite both my desire to see God’s direct hand and the lack of dramatic intervention my life (though like many of you, in hindsight I can certainly see God’s work), I remain deeply committed to a life and attitude of prayer. In this blog post, I hope to both explain why and invite you to join me in that commitment. That said, if you’re hoping that I’ll explain why God answers prayers in some places and times and seemingly not in others, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Why the all-knowing and ever-present God wants us to actually speak our requests has provoked nearly endless debate, and frankly I’m not qualified to fully address the question, but I can share why I continue to pray without the answers to those questions.

If you’ve attended Waypoint, or hopefully any church, for even one Sunday, you’ll have encountered the concept of prayer. The dictionary defines “pray” as a synonym of “entreat” or “implore”. Asking God to work forms one important aspect of our prayer life. As one psalmist says, “In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” (Psalm 5:3). In prayer, I reflect my belief that God works in the world today. The Spirit speaks to and through us, and we can see God change situations and transform lives. In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of The Persistent Widow, who day after day pesters an unrighteous judge into giving her justice—how much more will the Father give justice to his children who call out to him. By asking God to work, I reflect and implement my belief that he loves and engages with his creation to this day.

Yet the modern Christian vernacular uses “prayer” to refer to more than mere requests to God. Prayer means to converse with God. In Psalm 27:4, the psalmist writes: 

“One thing I ask from the Lord,    

this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

    all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the Lord

    and to seek him in his temple.”

In my own life, I have benefited deeply from listening prayer: sitting silently in God’s presence, meditating on scripture or God’s character, and listening for his voice in the Spirit. Even when I hear nothing it gives God a space to speak.

But prayer does more than just connect me to God (though that would be more than enough). Our community group ends most meetings with a time of prayer. That thirty minutes often forms the highlight of my week. By asking the others in my community group to pray for my needs, and in praying for theirs, I get to see God’s work and connect with God’s family.

Prayer serves as a fundamental aspect of our faith and walk with the Lord, not least because it affirms the resurrection and God’s desire for reconciliation. I’ll never forget one small group session from my high school years: a friend new to the faith asked us a simple question: “If this Jesus guy died, why do you all keep talking to him?”. I pray to affirm that Jesus lives, and that he has the power to save all of us.

Come join your brothers and sisters in Waypoint in prayer! Scripture calls us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17), and so much of our life and community centers around it. As a simple suggestion, every Sunday morning, a group of us practice this at Waypoint. We pray for the church service, the pastors and staff, the workers Waypoint has sent out, and whatever else God lays on our hearts. Listening to their requests has drawn me closer to them, and allows me to put into practice my belief that Jesus lives and his Spirit still works. Come join us, at around 10:20 in the corner office near the back entrance to the building. But more importantly, let your conversation with our Lord draw you to love him in new and deeper ways.