I want to address the importance of prayer in the life of God’s people.  Driving straight to the point, when we fail to pray, when we become slack in our communication with God, it affects our relationship with Him.  All relationships are founded on communication.  Our lack of communication causes a lapse in our relationship and we find ourselves tending to be “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:4-5).

Consider this quote from the great Wesleyan Methodist minister, Samuel Chadwick: “Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, he mocks our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.”  

Also consider another quote from C.H. Spurgeon, the English Particular Baptist minister from the mid-nineteenth century: “Brethren, we shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.” 

Prayer is often the expression of our human desires, and it’s difficult to reconcile prayer with the sovereignty of God.  He does as He pleases.  He does only that which is good.  He is moved by His love for His followers, His children.  Therefore, He is NOT deaf to the cries and prayers of His children.  The Shepherd hears the voice of His sheep.  We are tempted to believe that prayer is dispensable, a sort of option.  It is an absolute necessity in maintaining our relationship with God.

I’ve heard many Christians ponder why they should pray.  If God is sovereign, if no one nor anything can change the mind of a changeless God, what is the purpose of prayer?  Are we not confused as to how God works and interacts with His children?  Do we not often misunderstand the mysterious way our faithful prayers interact with the divine sovereignty of the Almighty?  

Our prayers help us align ourselves with the will of God.  When we pray we please our Father and we cause Satan to tremble in fear.  Our heavenly Father fears no one and Satan fears no one … except God our Father.  Satan will do all in his power to prevent us from praying.  He will fill our minds with every excuse imaginable.  He convinces us that we are just too weary to pray, that prayer is too inconvenient at the moment, or that the mood is too light or irreverent for serious prayer.

R.A. Torrey, a Congregational pastor and evangelist from the early 1900’s, said this about prayer: “We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services, but few conversions; much machinery, but few results.”  

Satan provides a great and mighty resistance to our prayer life because prayer is the connecting cord we use to plug into our divine source of power.  

How helpless do you feel when a great storm comes through your area and the power to your home is knocked out?  Light turns to darkness.  A lively home is deadened without power.  You stumble about looking for candles.  Candles are no good without matches or a lighter.  How can things be found in the dark?  

Prayer keeps the lights on in our spiritual lives.  Prayer keeps our spiritual house vibrant with life.  Prayer dispels the darkness and all the confusion and misery that comes along with it.  

The power cord illustration fails to do justice to the reality of the power of prayer.  We draw on the resources of nature to power our homes.  When we pray, we access the supernatural power of God Almighty.  Satan does not tremble at the sight of a weak saint upon his knees.  He trembles at the prospect that the weak saint is accessing the power of God Almighty, the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists in this universe.  He who determines the destiny of all living creatures also has the power to crush the serpent under his heel.

With all that in mind, should we not take heed to the words of Paul the Apostle to the Christians in Thessalonica when he admonished them to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)?