Does God Really Need Our Prayers?

UPDATE: I'm not writing this blog anymore, but please visit my YouTube channel The Vocabuverse and subscribe for more great things to come!


Another Youtube chap came out of the wood work today with another point about prayer, once again inspired by my video from the Sermon on the Mount.

He wrote:

And in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says that prayer leads to condemnation. This text has intrigued me as an agnostic philosopher and I’ve been trying to interpret it in a logical way. In my view, if God exists, then he must be perfect and asking him to change his will, through prayer, because of human desires or emotions is insulting. If a perfect God does exist, he has no use for petty things such as worship or prayer and just wants us to live good lives, regardless of religious beliefs.

Thank you my philosophical friend for your interesting input!

I’m not an historian first and foremost so cannot offer a textual analysis or critique of the Gospel of Thomas. It is not part of the canon of Scripture so I have never read it… however I am willing to give it a shot, maybe then I’ll have some idea as to why the Church Father’s in Nicaea rejected it… but for the time being I ask that you forgive my ignorance on the subject…

Neither am I the best at praying. I actually find it the hardest thing to do as a Christian. I’m a parent of two toddlers and do shift work so when I do get a chance to pray I find myself falling asleep. Not because I’m bored, but because the bliss of finally being still and quiet tempts me to micro-sleeps. I also get distracted easily… with things like YouTube comments. On a logical note, if the Devil does exist, then the last thing he would want me to do is pray, so I wonder if this is why it is also the hardest spiritual discipline?

I only mention the above because I am not an expert on the topic of prayer! Many theologians have written far greater works than my measly paragraphs on the subject, I would encourage you to look up writers like Derek Prince, Watchman Nee, E.M. Bounds for a better meal on the subject...

The interesting thing about your comment is that you seem to think that the Christian’s idea of the purpose of prayer is to change God’s will! This is not actually accurate, even though many Christians are guilty of perpetuating this myth, one need only to see Jesus bleeding sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane that each prayer consisted of him SUBMITTING to God’s will…

In Fact, the very prayer in Matthew Chapter 6 which Jesus teaches his disciples begins with, “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy Kingdom come, THY WILL BE DONE on earth as it is in Heaven…”

It seems to me that prayer has more to do with God’s will than with ours.

I came up with two analogies that I hope will better explain this idea of prayer:

First I think of prayer as if my will and God’s Will were two gladiators pitted against each other in an arena. They struggle against each other but God’s will wins every time. My gladiator though, rather than being defeated, leaves the arena having learned something new about God’s character, while gaining strength of character himself.

On the other hand, prayer is like a man who wanted to move a mountain. Every day he pushed against that mountain for about an hour, but it simply wouldn’t budge. He did this every day for years and years until one day it dawned on him that he could not change the mountain, but realized instead that the mountain had changed him, for he had become a totally ripped and muscular man who no one could mess with… and so, he never stopped pushing the mountain.

Maybe they sound like fluffy New Age parables of the Chicken Soup for the Soul variety but I really just wanted to illustrate that while the Bible does teach us to “bring our cares” before the Lord it is balanced in its teaching that God is more concerned with our character than with us getting every little thing we ask for.

The last thing I wanted to address is this part of your comment:

“If a perfect God does exist, he has no use for petty things such as worship or prayer and just wants us to live good lives, regardless of religious beliefs.”

May I please ask if you are a parent? Because as a parent I can tell you that I do need my children’s love, I long for their adoration. It has been one of the most exhilarating experiences of my entire life and I cant describe what it is like to come home after work and have my kids cry out, “DADDY!!!” and then throw themselves at me like cuddling was a type of pillow fight, well, its just awesome.

If God is perfect then he is also the perfect Father. Why should a perfect Father expect less from his children?

As far as the last part of your comment goes however, yes I do want my children to live good lives, but I don’t want them living those good lives without me.

Today I caught a scene in a movie where a boy loses his Dad in the first five minutes of the film! I actually caught myself crying a little and realized it was because the thought of my girls growing up without me cut me deep. Of course they could go on and live good lives but it would be without the relationship they would have had with me.

The worst case scenario for me as a Dad would be if through some freak series of circumstances my children grew up under another man’s roof and for some reason I was able to see them from a distance but they could not contact me. I cannot describe the hurt I would feel were I to watch my children go through life under someone else’s guidance, especially if their surrogate Father did not have the best of intentions toward them. My paternal instinct makes me want to guide them, protect them, provide for them and see them through to adulthood with the greatest possible chance of survival.

Why should God not be allowed to have a paternal instinct? I would imagine that if a perfect God does exist (which I believe he does) then I would expect him to have a paternal instinct towards his children – I would not venture to call this a “petty” thing.

The Bible teaches that God made us in his image. If part of that image reflects my experience of Fatherhood then I am not surprised that he expects our adoration.

Finally I would like to lay down a challenge to all my atheist/agnostic friends...

Wait for it...

Simply try praying.

Specifically, the Lord's Prayer, every day for a month. The only rule is that you entertain, for that month, the notion that there is actually a God and so approach him with the appropriate reverence.

I for one am curious to see what will happen if you do. Either nothing or maybe, just maybe, you might end up line the guy who tried to push the mountain?

Thanks for reading and please keep searching!

God Bless

UPDATE: I'm not writing this blog anymore, but please visit my YouTube channel The Vocabuverse and subscribe for more great things to come!