This one word is also a command sentence with a subject and a verb.  As a command sentence the verb is “pray” and the subject is YOU!  We are living in a day and time where the call to pray is not just a command but it is a critical necessity. Desperate times require desperate actions. Prayer is not only our response in dire situations and circumstances. Prayer is communion with God in fellowship and intimacy.

Why Pray?

1.  Prayer TRANSCENDS (Philippians 4:4-9).  To  transcend means to pass beyond (a human limit). Philippians 4:6-8 tells us not to be anxious for anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving make our requests known unto God. And when we do, the peace of God which TRANSCENDS all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. To transcend is to rise above, go beyond, exceed, surpass, outdo ALL of our understanding. We don’t know anything except what we know. Everything else is speculation. That’s why we tend to get so anxious about  things. However, prayer TRANSCENDS our finite understanding and takes us to a place in God where we can rise above our situations and move  beyond our problems. This in turn allows us to think on the things that are true, honest, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy, and then we can rest in the Lord.

2.  Prayer TRANSFERS (1 Peter 5:7).  To transfer is  to carry, remove, or shift from one person, position, or place to another.  1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast our cares on God.  Why?  Because  He cares for you.  I like to read this as God CARES, for you.  In other words, He cares so you don’t have to. He takes on the care (burden) for you so you don’t have to carry it. This reminds me of the lyrics to the old familiar hymn, What A Friend We Have In Jesus.  “Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear.  All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”  When we transfer our cares (burdens) to God we Take Our Burdens to the Lord and Leave Them There.

3.  Prayer TRANSFORMS (Matthew 26:36-46).  To  transform is to change the nature, function, or condition of; convert (to undergo a transformation).  Prayer TRANSFORMS. First of all it transforms US!  Most often we pray because we want something from God or we want God to do something with someone else (God correct them, God change them, God heal them). That’s okay.  However, when we pray, God often wants to transform us — to change our nature, change our functions, change the conditions of our hearts.  In Matthew 26:36-46  Jesus prayed in Gethsemane until He was transformed. He knew the ordeal  that He was going to have to face. He knew the hatred He would face, the brutality, the scorn, and the torture. So He prayed until He was transformed so that in His humanity He would be able to handle what was ahead. Through prayer He was transformed for the task He had to accomplish. After the transforming work of prayer Jesus was able to say  “Nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done.” 

Prayer Transcends.  Prayer Transfers.  Prayer Transforms. 

Copyright © 2019 Crystal V. Lowe

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