Prayer Changes Things... Right?

How often has the expression 'prayer changes things' been used as a motivational spur in the flank of a Christian? Leading people to be faithful in prayer is only slightly harder than getting yourself to diligently, continuously, and in heartfelt gratitude make your requests known to God. This difficulty is why so many catch phrases have been coined, both scriptural and non-scriptural, in an effort to motivate prayer amongst the saints.

'Those who pray together stay together'; 'pray often, pray hard, and let God take care of the rest'; 'Prayer, it works'; 'The prayer of a righteous man avails much'; 'Prayer really changes things, arranges life anew.'; 'It’s good for your digestion, gives peaceful sleep at night, And fills the grayest days with rays of glowing light.'; 'It puts a smile upon your face, a love note in your tone. It makes you fit to live with others, and fit to live alone. It brings God down from heaven to live and work in you!' (I took some of these from this link) These phrases, and statements like them, in various colloquial formulations are used to stimulate the felt need of prayer. Some of the bits of truth espoused are good, while other bits are heretical, yet for all of the conversational usages of phrases like these there is one thing in common--they have come to mean little, if anything at all.

Convincing people of the validity, necessity, and effectual nature of prayer is good. Nonetheless, the imperative to pray must rest upon more than the command itself. The command to pray is often backed up with the pragmatic idea that it works, but this also is insufficient. Our instruction on prayer must be more than a flowery discourse seeking an emotive response.

So, the question, 'Why pray?' must be asked in seeking satisfactory and substantial reason to actually pray. Why pray?

1. Because of the One who commanded you to pray. The command to pray is not a suggestion--it is a command--but from whom the command is issued is of the utmost importance. In Matt 6:5, Jesus told his disciples, "when you pray..." carrying the notion that you need to be praying. God has commanded that we pray, which should be enough of a reason to pray, but our rebellious hearts resist. The Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer commanding his children to pray is enough reason, and to that we frail, weak, and finite creatures must comply.
2. Because that is the will of your Master. As slaves of God, (Rom 6:22) by faith in Jesus, we must seek to obey his will. Now, this might appear to be the same point as above, which in essence it is, yet they are separated to point out that it is not just God commanding us to pray, but God as our Master commanding prayer. In 1 Thess 5:16-18 the apostle Paul teaches that rejoicing always, praying nonstop, and giving thanks in every circumstance is God's will for us in Christ Jesus.
3. Because it brings us in communion with our Master. Praying is not seeking to have a request fulfilled, like going to the cosmic shopping center to get all of our desires of health, wealth, and prosperity acquired. Though prayer is a request that we could have the desire of our hearts. If we delight in Him, we will obtain the desire of our heart, namely--Him! The Psalms give a great picture of how prayer leads us to commune with God. Communing with God, or having communion with God, is simply being close to Him, to enter into fellowship with Him, to seek His face. In Psalm 63:10 the psalmist communes with God in prayer. "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you."

By no means is this a full answer, but suffice to say, the hard work begins. Now is the time to seek God's face! Simply having the indicative (reasoning) doesn't make the imperative (command) any easier, but founding the imperative upon the indicative gives a genuine and God given impetus to actually pray.

Does prayer changes things? Yes, and 99% of the time it is you.