In November of 2010, my aunt Sue passed away from pancreatic cancer. She was not only my aunt, but was also a mentor and dear friend. I loved processing life with her.  She was a true Proverbs 31 woman. At her funeral, I witnessed the the fulfillment of Proverbs 31:29-30 which says, “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

My Uncle Steve shared a precious story about his Susan. He said that next to the chair where Susan would have her quiet time with the Lord there was a basket that held her Bible, journal, pens, devotionals, and a coupon organizer. He knew the coupon organizer had something to do with her quiet time, but never asked. After she passed away, he sat in her chair and looked through her basket and opened the coupon organizer and there was her system of praying. It was her Prayer Pack.  In the first pocket, there were the things that she prayed for herself; a vision statement over her life.  In the second pocket were things that she prayed for him. In the third pocket were all the things that she prayed for her children and grandchildren.  These three pockets were prayed over daily. In the rest of the pockets, she had certain things that she prayed for on particular days.  He mentioned just a few of these.  Several days after the funeral I called him and asked him for more details on what she prayed for each day.  Following that conversation, I created my own Prayer Pack and have used this system ever since tweaking it year by year. 

In time, I will give you a step by step tutorial of how to put together your own Prayer Pack, but first I want to focus on why we pray. For twenty-six days we focused on the ABC’s of God and looked each day at who God is and who we are in Him. Wasn’t that good? I want to encourage you to continue doing that. As you read the Bible on your own, put your pen to paper and keep a list, writing down who God is and who you are in Him. In our study of all of those attributes, it is apparent that God knows everything.  So, why should we pray if He already knows?  Here is the first reason of five that we will look at:

Why Pray?

1. We pray because it is the way we communicate with God.  

Psalm 145:18

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.

Psalm17:6

I call upon You, for You will answer me, O God; incline Your ear to me; hear my words.

Job 22:17

You will pray to Him, and He will hear you.

Jeremiah 29:12

Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me: and I will listen.

I John 5:14-15

This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.

Who is God? He is Near. He hears us. He answers according to His will.

Who are we in Him? We are close to Him. We are confident to approach Him and ask according to His will. We are heard.

Our God, the God of the Bible, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the Great I AM is a personal God. He wants us to come to Him; to call upon Him, and when we do that He draws near, ready to listen, and answer according to His will.  

So, let’s call upon Him today with confidence, trusting that when we do He will draw near, ready to listen and answer according to His perfect will.

Blessings to you.

Here is the song, “Let Us Pray” by Steven Curtis Chapman

When You Pray…

Praise the Lord that He is near.

Pray for your spouse and children.

It is Wednesday, so pray for your extended family…grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.