3 Purposes of Prayer

– Martin Luther

Glorify God

You don’t have to read very far in the Bible to know what God’s will is, and the will of God is that is we should give Him glory. The psalmist nailed it in writing, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory” (Psalm 115:1a). The Lord God thunders from heaven, “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8), so I believe we should pray every day, “Oh God, how can I glorify You and Your Son, Jesus Christ today?”

Giving Thanks

God’s will is not some mysterious, hidden thing. It can be found in the pages of Scripture. The Apostle Paul tells us we should “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1st Thess 5:18), so again, in prayer, we can give God thanks because that’s His will and it’s one of the purposes of prayer. Since we can’t go to heaven and thank Him personally (not yet, anyway!), we pray.

Seeking Forgiveness

Forgiveness of sins is a huge thing before God because it affects our relationship with Him. If we have unconfessed sin in our hearts, God might not hear our prayers. In the so-called Lord’s Prayer, Jesus tells us to pray every day, including “forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matt 6:12). The “debts” are those sins we’ve committed against God, and the debts of others are sins committed against us, but never refuse to forgive others, because our debts are infinitely more than others have against us.

Conclusion

Sometimes prayer can be the very hardest thing to do, so when you are in dire need of God’s help, at least your prayer life gets better, but it’s obvious we ought to pray for God’s Son to be glorified; we ought to pray to give God thanks (for so much!); and we ought pray for the forgiveness of our sins, just as we forgive others. There are more purposes than these, but no less than these three purposes for prayer.