Senior Pastor, the Chapel Scott Chapman

I always like to know the reason for things. When I was a kid, I hated busy work. Even as an adult, when I’m told that I should do something, I find that a compelling reason helps me to stay motivated. In the early part of my Christian life, prayer was something with which I had a hard time connecting. A big reason for this was that I didn’t understand the purpose of prayer. As I have talked with folks in the years since, I’ve realized that I wasn’t alone in that. It seems that a lot of people aren’t sure what the point of prayer is. In fact, I’ve found three common misconceptions around the purpose of prayer that seem to come up a lot.

Misconception #1: God needs our information.

The idea here is that sometimes people need to “fill God in” because He has so much going on that He might not be up on the details of what’s going on in our lives. The Bible makes it pretty clear that God is reasonably well-informed, even without our help.

“From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind…” – Psalm 33.13

God wants us to tell Him about our life, not so much for the information as for the story. As an example, I love to watch our kids play in our backyard. Inevitably, one of them will come bounding into the house to tell me about their home run, handstand or new discovery of some kind. Because I’ve been watching them I already know the information they are going to share, but I wouldn’t miss hearing them tell the story for anything. There is something about connecting around an important event in life that draws us close together, provides opportunities for encouragement, grace and greater vision. It is the same way with God and his relationship with each one of us.

Misconception #2: God needs our motivation.

The idea behind this misconception is the erroneous belief that God is inclined to not answer our requests. The thought is that God’s default setting is ‘No’ and in order to get a different response, we need to lubricate the machinery through compliments, bargaining or outright pleading – whichever seems the most appropriate at the time. This belief arises from the idea that God’s heart needs to be moved first in order to help us and that somehow, our flattery, promises and begging will warm Him to our position.

Actually, the Bible tells us that God delights in answering our prayers. In fact, He loves and wants to help us even before we pray (Matthew 7.9-11). There is no need to move His heart at all.

Misconception #3: God needs our help.

This misconception is based on the idea that there is “power in prayer”; that somehow, our prayers add power to things we pray for or thwart demonic opposition all on their own. Proponents of this view believe that the more fervent and widespread a prayer is, the more power it has. Now, I do think it is important to pray passionately and to share our requests with others, but not because it adds force to our prayers or in some way increases their power.

A right view of prayer understands that there is power in God. Our prayers are just our way of asking for His help. If there’s something that needs power or a demon that needs to be thwarted, it will be God who does the empowering and the thwarting. Prayer acknowledges that we are in a position of complete dependence on God (John 15) and that we have access to a Heavenly Father who is powerful beyond measure (Jeremiah 32.27).

Have you ever had any misconceptions about the purpose of prayer that have affected your prayer life? I would love to hear about them.

I will continue to answer a question or two about prayer on my blog for the rest of the week and 10 people who leave comments will receive a free copy of ‘Too Busy Not To Pray’ by Bill Hybels.

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