“The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. “For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, And He has set the world upon them” (1 Samuel 2:6-8 NKJV).

Knowing that the Bible is in the inerrant Word of God can lead us to question things as they are put before us. Recent reading and studying about the sovereignty of God raised the question about why Christians should pray. If God has already determined events and, because of His own purposes, set an outcome even of life and death and poverty and riches, why pray?

The simple answer, of course, is that He tells us to pray:

…pray without ceasing..1 Thessalonians 5:17

Then He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:1

Author, A.W. Pink points out that when we pray it is not to be about our telling God how to do things or what His purpose for us or others should be. Our attitude needs to be one of humility and dependence. Humbling ourselves to admit that we cannot rightly tell Him how things in our lives should go. Our purpose is to communicate with God in a way that acknowledges His inerrancy, even in the way He answers our prayers.

God’s will and His purposes are immutable. We will not change His plans by our crying out to Him for what we want. We are to pray “according to His will.”

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).

This means that we must ask for what He has already said is in His will. If we are seeking to “get God” to give us a relationship with a married man, forget it. This is not according to His will. He calls that adultery, However, should we want to be married, have children, want someone to have faith, well, these are all things “in God’s will.” This is not a promise that He will give us what we’re asking for but it is a promise that He hears us because we pray in His will.

In James 4:3, James says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

For many years I had wanted the Lord to give our son the gift of saving faith. Looking back about how I “prayed” is embarrassing. For years I offered the Lord suggestions on how He might save him, bring him a beautiful Christian girl that he’ll want to please, was most often what I prayed – because I wanted him married, too. Do you see how many “I’s” are in that?

The Lord convicted me that my prayer was a selfish and sinful prayer. What was I asking Him to do but put a Christian girl into an unequally yoked relationship?

When we are strictly thinking of our own interests and desires and not of God’s sovereign power over all things, our prayers may be prayed “amiss.” Not in His will, not praying in Jesus’ Name. This little phrase is also commanded of us but we are only praying “in His Name” if what we ask honors Him because it is according to His will.

The Sovereign God who rules over all has instructed us to pray, to communicate with Him. He has also informed us of ways to do that without dishonoring His Name.  Have we taken the time to think past what “I” want to pray for to What God wants us to pray for?