15 Reasons

“Therefore, you should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.] 
- Matthew 6:9-13 HCSB

I don’t know about you, but sometimes... even many times... I have a hard time praying.

For one reason or another I won’t make or take the time to pray. 
Or I’ll get distracted in the midst of a prayer. 
Or I fall asleep while praying. 
Or my crazy life seemingly gets too busy to pray. 
And my little silent prayers between songs in the car don’t seem fulfilling... and are really not much of a conversation with God at all.

However, with all that is going on in my life, and the busyness and the stresses of the day seemingly more than they were the day before, I can’t afford to NOT be praying.

In trying to motivate and commit myself to pray more consistently and once again make prayer a bigger part of my life, I found the following verses and reasons why we should pray:

Why We Pray - 15 Reasons

* Psalm 145:18 - Praying assures us of God’s presence
* Matthew 7:11 - Prayer brings good gifts from God
* Hebrews 4:16 - Prayer brings help in times of need
* John 16:24 - Prayer brings joy
* James 5:15 - Prayer brings physical or spiritual healing
* 1 Timothy 4:4-5 - Prayer acknowledges God’s ownership of creation
* Jeremiah 33:3 - Prayer brings understanding
* James 5:16 - Prayer can be powerful and effective
* Proverbs 15:8-9 - Prayer pleases God
* Matthew 26:41 - Prayer strengthens us against temptation
* Psalm 28:6-7 - Prayer shows that we trust God
* Colossians 4:2-4 - Prayer helps us advance the Gospel
* 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - When we pray, we obey God
* 1 Peter 5:6-7 - We pray because we know God cares.
* Matthew 6:9-13 - We should pray because Jesus did, instructs us to and even gives us a model on how we should pray.

May this help us on our journey, as we strive to grow closer to God… strive to be more like Jesus.

Keep the Faith... Carpe Diem