Why We Need to Pray

March 5, 2026

My journey in prayer began as I discussed in my book “Come Follow Me,” one Wednesday night in 1983 shortly after I had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I was attending Church on the Rock (COTR) in Rockwall Texas when our pastor, Dr. Larry Lea began the service with the following conversation,

We will no longer be doing our traditional service on Wednesday evening. We will have a little time of worship and then I will give some spiritiual instructions and then we shall use the time for worship and prayer for one hour.

That night Dr. Lea changed the Wednesday evening service by encouraging attendees to spend one uninterrupted minute by praying in the Spirit. The congregation began praying aloud, but their energy waned after about 15 seconds. Dr. Lea urged everyone to persist, and after one minute, he interupted everyone and shared his insights about the importance of dedicated prayer.

He started by saying, “We all have a desire to pray but we often lack the discipline to find joy in it.” He discussed some of the common distractions and mental delays that hinder effective prayer. He explained that we need to develop the right desire, then discipline to connect with God, and ultimately reach a point where prayer becomes a delight as we engage in meaningful conversation with God.

Prayer, Most Simply Defined

Prayer defined is communication with God the Father, regarded as the creator of all things. It involves more than quiet meditation or passive listening; it represents a dynamic exchange between God and the believer. In this context, disciples are identified as committed individuals who actively engage in the "Big 4" principles of discipleship, namely, prayer, scripture, fellowship and witness to a world that is desperate spiritual needs of Jesus Christ.

As the avenue to engage in effective prayer this is what a prayer warrior looks like and is one actively listening and talking, sharing thoughts from the deep recesses of their hearts. J. C. Lambert shares that “it is supplication for benefits for oneself (petition) or for others (intercession).”^[1] The foundation for such open communication is based upon the Christian doctrine of the redeemed disciple entering an intimate relationship with God. Hence, such intimacy leads to prayers that are derived from a humble heart that is thankful, worshipful, reverent, and wholly dependent upon God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotent character.

I believe our communication is the core of all great relationships, then how much more critical are the disciples prayers to the Creator? An individuals steadfast prayers are the catalyst for a fruit-bearing life. Hermann Spieckerman and Reinhard Feldmeier explain that “Relationship with God is life as God’s gift that prepares human beings gratefully to accept this gift as the ground for their existence, to comprehend it, and to respond obediently . . . prayer is the agreement of human beings that they accept God’s encouragement thankfully and will grant it validity in their lives.”^[2] Hence, prayer rest on the foundation of the relationship between God and His people, and nothing reveals the depth of that relationship more than the health of one’s prayer life.

In my existence as a believer, I had not prayed the way Dr. Larry had taught us to pray by simply useing the Lord’s Prayer as the format or an outline to follow. In his book “Could You Not Tarry One Hour,” Dr. Lea describes a conversation that he had with Dr. Cho and Dr. Criswell of First Baptist in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Criswell jokingly confided:

Cho, when I pray 15 minutes, I feel as if I’ve worn God out and worn myself out, too. How can you pray as you pray? How do you do it? How do you pray? Dr. Lea said, I am so glad Cho did not give Criswell a traditional Pentecostal answer such as, I speak in tongues, and you don’t.’ Instead, Cho smiled graciously and said, Every morning, I get on a running track’ in the Spirit, and I circle that track. I know that when 

I’m one-fifth of the way through, two-fifths, four-fifths, and then, finally, I know when I’m done. Then, if I have time, I run it again and again, just as a runner would circle a track.[3]

An Effective Follower And Disciple

An effective follower and disciple of Christ gets strength, encouragement, and direction from the Holy Spirit and prayer comes from the recesses of the heart, no matter the format, is more potent than any other tool in the believer’s arsenal. L. B. Cowan reminds his readers that ‘practice makes perfect’… and “we must continue believing, praying, and doing His will. In any of the arts, when the artist ceases to practice, we know the result. If we could only use the same level of common sense in our faith that we use in our everyday life, we would be moving on toward perfection.”^[4]

Make prayer a key part of your life that you practice daily as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Use helpful resources to assist you, like scripture reading, commentaries, devotionals, and prayer guides to support a regular dialogue with God. Dedicate specific times for prayer as an intentional act, allow prayer to grow in your life from desire into discipline and into ultimate delight.

[1]J. C. Lambert, “Prayer,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr, www.international.

standardbible.com/.

[2]Hermann Spieckerman and Reinhard Feldmeier, God of the Living, (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2011), 425.

[3]Larry Lea, Could You Not Tarry: Learning the Joy of Prayer (Altamonte Springs, FL Creation House, 1987), 180.

[4]L. B. Cowan, Streams in the Desert, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965), 29.