Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jensen Holt McNair.

Why do you pray?

Like, I'm really asking, why do you turn to God in prayer?

Why you pray says a lot about what you believe to be true about prayer and about

God. Now, if we're honest, we probably mostly pray to ask God for something, for comfort, for healing,

for forgiveness, for strength, for peace, success, for guidance. And that's not a bad thing, right? Scripture tells us to

confidently bring our request before the Lord in prayer because he delights to give us what we ask.

Philippians 4-6, do not be anxious about anything but in every situation. By prayer and petition,

with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Matthew 7.11, if you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?

So, how come every time we pray for something, it doesn't come true? Like, why does prayer not

always work in the way that we want it to? How do we reconcile our lived experience with what

scripture seems to be saying? I think it comes down to our heart posture. It comes down to why we pray.

We can use prayer to demand things of God, or we can see prayer as a way to depend on God.

When we demand, we forget who God is. We treat him more like a vending machine, a magic genie, a spiritual force we can persuade to do our bidding.

When we seek out prayer as a means of dependence on God, we approach him in an entirely different way,

humbly aware of our need, aware of our inability, requesting that

he work, depending on the prayer for deliverance because we know only God can provide. It comes from

a place of trust. Now, Romans 826 even says that we don't even always know how to pray for what is good. In the same way,

the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit

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