Prayer releases anxiety. When you start feeling anxious it is a good indication that it is time to pray. You are not meant to carry the burdens of life alone. Prayer changes things. The word says – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

We depend on God – He is our source – He is our life (Colossians 3:4). Through prayer we receive the comfort, strength and all the other resources we need in life, both naturally and spiritually. Prayer – relationship with God – is as necessary to the spiritual life as air is to the natural life.

Prayer allows us to resist temptation. Jesus warned His disciples to “watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Living a life without prayer can leave us weak and exposed, giving an opportunity for the enemy to gain ground and potentially lure us into sin.

Prayer is necessary for people to invite God to act in salvation. God gave the earth to Adam and his descendants, so we must invite God to work here. If no one invites Him to work on earth, Satan, the “god of this age” because of humanity’s universal rebellion (2 Corinthians 4:4) – will dominate human affairs, and eventually the judgment of God will come. By inviting God to intercede often and specifically, multitudes can be saved who would otherwise be lost.

God commands us to pray. In Colossians 4:2, Paul writes: “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” Jesus also encouraged His followers to pray: “Then He [Jesus] spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

The need to pray is as great as the authority of God, who commands us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is so vital to all that God wants to do on the earth, and it is so essential to us, that He commands us to do it all the time. We should even deny ourselves sleep and food at times to pray more and with greater power. See Matthew 6:16; Luke 6:12; Luke 21:36; Colossians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 11:27.

In the words of Johan Hagee: “What is prayer? Prayer is not sending God to run your errands. A Christian sees more on his knees than he can on his feet. Prayer is not getting God prepared to do your will, but you to do God’s will. Prayer is the only way to release the supernatural power of God in your life, in your marriage, in your business, to show you great and mighty things that you know not. Prayer is the key that unlocks the gates of heaven and closes the gates of hell. Prayer has the power to cure sickness and disease and can shatter the shackles of miseries and habits that are tormenting your life, or of your son/daughter or husband/wife or family. Prayer does not need proof, prayer needs practice. Intellectuals are now “gibbering” that God is removed and far away, but God is as close as your next prayer!

If your marriage is under attack – pray. If your children are being tormented by the prince of darkness – pray. If your business is failing – pray. If you are fighting a deadly disease – pray. If you are lost and without God – pray. If your life is empty and meaningless and seems to be hopeless – pray…pray…pray, because God answers prayer. A prayerless Christian is a weak Christian. A prayerless Christian is a miserable Christian, who always lives in defeat. A prayerless church is a weak church, a prayerless nation is a defeated nation, and a prayerless family will be a divided family. It has been said that ‘the family that prays together, stays together’.

God expects you every week to pray for the people in your house. Somebody prayed for you! Who are you praying for? Why pray? Because God answers prayer! As powerful as God is, God cannot answer prayer until you pray. The Bible says whatever you bind on earth, I’ll bind in heaven (Matthew 18:18). The book of Isaiah says ‘command ye Me’, this is God speaking to man, because in prayer He has given you the authority to launch the initiative. Quit walking around in circles, wringing your hands saying, ‘I wonder when God is going to do something?’ No, God in heaven is looking down and saying “I have given you the authority of My name, I have given you the power of My word, I have given you the sanctity of my blood. When are you going to use the power that I have given to you to blast the Kingdom of hell off the ground and announce that Jesus Christ (Yeshua Hammasiach) is Lord. The initiative rests with you.

Ask Him for things that are impossible because with God nothing is impossible. Ask Him to defeat the giants in your life because our God is a giant killer. Ask Him to divide the sea before you and to busy Pharaoh and watch Him turn your enemies into fish food. Ask Him to send fire from heaven as He did for Elijah because He will. Ask Him to walk with you in the fire of the fire furnace and be the 4th man in the fire and He will. He said ‘you will walk through the fire and the fire will not burn you. You will walk through the water and the water will not drown you’. Ask Him. He is the God that will not fail, He is waiting to show you great and mighty things. Pray…pray…pray!

God in heaven wants you to have that power and says “ask according to my infinite power”. God is saying “I want you to ask big, I want you to make me slide to the edge of my seat and say ‘wow, wow, listen to what they are asking for, to move mountains, to heal incurable diseases, to restore dead marriages back to life. To send a financial harvest that their minds cannot fathom’. I want you to know God wants to do that. God is in heaven saying “what do you need? Do you need healing? Ask in faith and believe it and I will give it. Do you need supernatural wisdom to make a tough decision? Ask of me and I will lead you in paths of righteousness for my name’s sake. You need peace that surpasses all understanding? Ask…ask…ask! For nothing is impossible for those that believe.’ No good thing will He withhold from those that diligently seek Him.

Do you need the impossible? Then open your mouth. Open your mouth in faith believing. You are not talking to the president of the United States (or South Africa), you are not talking to Bill Gates. Both of them together cannot control their next breath, you’re talking to the Creator of Heaven and earth. He owns the cattle of a thousand hills, He uses gold for asphalt on the streets of heaven, He moves mountains, He divides seas, He will give you wells you did not dig, vineyards you didn’t plant, houses you didn’t build, He’ll make you the head and not the tail because nothing…nothing…nothing is impossible for Him.“

Or, as John Chrysostom wrote: “Prayer has subdued the strength of fire. It has bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, burst the chains of death, expanded the fates of heaven, assuaged diseases, dispelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, staid the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. In this communion with God, there is an all-sufficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine that is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings!”

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-should-we-pray.html

*Watch the YouTube video of John Hagee’s sermon here