why pray?

Why pray? In Philip Yancey’s book on prayer he tells how he has spoken to Christian leaders in Burma and China who have been imprisoned and treated in unbelievably inhumane ways. Yet these are people of spiritual power. Some have led hundreds to follow Jesus in spite of the risk of imprisonment and torture. When he asked them how Christians in other parts of the world could help, they have answered the same way without exception: pray for us. Why didn’t they say something about appealing to the UN or getting their story to Amnesty International or organizing a human rights watch? Because sometimes it takes being without access to earthly power to make us realize that we have access to a greater power through prayer.

Who are the meek? The usage of the term in Jesus’ day referred to the poor and those without social status or access to earthly power. And yet Jesus said that the meek would inherit the earth. The conventional wisdom is that the earth belongs to those who are strong enough to take it by force. Yancey’s account underscores the point that Jesus is making. Prayer is how we get to know our Father, the one to whom this world really belongs. And prayer is how we ask our Father for things. Lord, teach us to pray.