Any thoughtful person wrestling with prayer asks “Why pray at all?” “Is the basic purpose of prayer to get things from God?”. What if God knows prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God’s idea of prayer is a supplying of our great, our endless need – the need of Himself?
Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other need. Prayer is the beginning of that communion, of talking with God, a coming-to-one with Him, which is the sole end of prayer, yea, of existence itself.
God wants us for Himself. He desires communion with us. His purpose in prayer is not to make us sit up and beg. He wants us to know Him.
For that reason, God has made himself known through His Son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and rose again to pay the penalty for our sin. If you don’t know Christ as your Savior, go to Him in prayer – maybe for the first time – confess your sin, and receive the forgiveness you need. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Then you’ll begin that all-important communication with God, which is as essential to your spiritual well-being as breathing is to your physical life.