THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER

Better Together – Part 4
The Purpose of Prayer
Steve Christner January 26, 2025

The Purpose of Prayer:

1. To .
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much
fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. -John 15:4-5 (NRSV)

2. To .
One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge
in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him
repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he
said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she
gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson
from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to
his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to
them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” -Luke 18:1-8 (NLT)

3. To .
When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the
house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While
he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring
him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the
man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your
sins are forgiven.” -Mark 2:1-5 (NLT)